Joe the Plumber's tale has a few leaks After becoming the star of the final presidential debate, Joe the Plumber isn't exactly what he seemed to be. Related Content More at Political Currents BY NICHOLAS SPANGLER nspangler@MiamiHerald.com Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher turned famous last weekend.
With cameras rolling, he stood toe-to-toe with Barack Obama and said he'd had enough: ''I'm getting taxed more and more for fulfilling the American dream,'' he said when the candidate visited a suburb of Toledo, Ohio.
He was big and none-too-pretty, blunt-talking and hard-working, a self-described plumber who had scraped together enough to buy his own business and get moderately rich and wasn't afraid to tell big government hands off. He was Joe the Plumber.
Except, as it turns out, Joe the Plumber isn't.
Never served in the apprentice program or got a license, according to Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 50, in Toledo. Doesn't make anywhere near the $250,000 that would subject him to higher taxes under Obama's proposed tax plan.
Isn't perfect, either. Joe owes $1,182.98 in back income taxes, according to state of Ohio records. Picked up a speeding ticket in Alaska.
Most of this came out late Wednesday and all day Thursday, hours after the televised debate in which John McCain invoked his new friend's name about two dozen times.
You might have watched this from a distance, read about it on the blogs and the continually updated Web stories of newspapers from Toledo to New York to London.
''I went from paycheck to paycheck to finally being able to save some money,'' Joe the Plumber is saying on Neil Cavuto's Fox News program. ``You work hard, you're going to get what you want eventually.''
''You're my kind of plumber, Joe,'' says Neil, by way of farewell.
Then he was on Good Morning America, then he was on YouTube, then he was on a McCain campaign commercial: ''Your new tax plan's gonna tax me more,'' he says to Obama during their exchange on Shrewsbury Street in Joe's neighborhood last weekend. Doesn't get tongue-tied or star-struck, doesn't mince, he just says his piece.
Except by then, the no spin, anti-hype personification of the American working class was thoroughly hyped, and the backlash had commenced.
''I think he's looking for attention, and it's gonna bury him,'' said Tom Joseph, business manager for Local 50, said Thursday afternoon. ''He's got himself into some serious problems with presenting himself'' as a bona fide plumber.
According to Joseph, Joe claimed on a social networking site to be a working union member and even used the pipefitters' insignia as a background. ''He's never been a member of the union,'' Joseph said.
When a reporter went to Wurzelbacher's door Thursday afternoon, he declined to answer questions. ''I don't want to stir things up again,'' he said.
Turns out, Joe works for a small plumbing shop in Toledo that's on call for leaky pipes, running toilets and gas leaks; but without licensing, he's years away from owning his own business -- legally, at least.
In fact, Joseph said, Joe isn't even supposed to work as a plumber in Toledo or the surrounding suburbs because he's not licensed under any of the local codes.
''Unless he's way out in the boonies working on some farmer's leaky pipes, he's not allowed to do any plumbing,'' Joseph said.
Reporters camped out in Joe's front yard wanted to know if he planned on paying those back taxes.
In the end, Joe's adventure in presidential pop politics may amount to little.
The latest Gallup poll shows Obama with a six-point national lead over McCain, about what it's been the last few days. Two major viewer polls after the debate gave Obama a decisive nod.
''We're in silly season right now,'' said Casey Klofstad, assistant professor of political science at the University of Miami. ''Obama's trying to run out the clock, McCain has got to swing at the fences. . . . This is really not a game changer at all.'' Emphasizing she wasn't speaking for the McCain campaign, Erin Vansickle, Florida Republican Party communications director, said ''I don't think someone is going to say he's not licensed to be a plumber and therefore I'm not going to vote for [McCain].'' Regarding the revelations about his union claims and back taxes, Vansickle said, ``It's an unfortunate situation if those things are in fact true. . . . I think it finally got out of control. I feel bad for the guy.''
