Joe the plumber's story isn't watertight

Joe the plumber's story sprang a few leaks Thursday.

The man who was held up by John McCain during Wednesday night's debate as the typical, hardworking American taxpayer isn't a licensed plumber. Court documents show that two liens have been placed on his property over more than $2,000 in unpaid back taxes and other debt. And he may be in no position to buy the company that he aspires to own.

Five days ago, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, 34, lived in anonymity with his 13-year-old son on Shrewsbury Street in Holland, Ohio. Wurzelbacher's goal, in his words: "to have a house, a dog, a couple rifles, a bass boat."

But he became the hero of conservatives and Republicans when he stopped Barack Obama, who was campaigning on his street Sunday, and asked whether he believed in the American dream. Wurzelbacher said he was concerned about higher taxes when he made the transition from employee to the owner of a small business.

"I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year," he told Obama in an exchange that showed up on YouTube. "Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?"

That encounter quickly led to appearances on the Fox News Channel, interviews with conservative bloggers and an editorial in the New York Post, all of whom seized on a small part of Obama's long reply. "I think that when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody," Obama had said.

McCain used Wurzelbacher on Wednesday night — and again Thursday in a campaign rally — as a way to criticize Obama's tax plan. And Wurzelbacher suddenly is a household name — CBS anchor Katie Couric on the phone, "Good Morning America" awaiting an interview, reporters at his modest home, a starring role in a McCain ad, a weekend date on Fox News' "Mike Huckabee Show."

The well-spoken Wurzelbacher handled the attention Thursday with aplomb and a bit of amazement.

"I'm completely flabbergasted with this whole thing," said the self-described conservative and registered Republican, expressing concern that he was mentioned more often than Iraq.

On the other hand:

• The emergence of Joe has allowed the state of Ohio to locate the man it says owes $1,182 in back taxes, leading sharp-tongued liberal commentators to say he was not so much concerned about rising taxes as paying taxes at all. (A state spokeswoman said Wurzelbacher may not have known about the lien.)

• According to public records, a hospital filed a now-settled 2007 lien against Wurzelbacher for $1,261.

• The plumber's union and the city of Toledo are on Wurzelbacher's tail after he acknowledged that he did not have a plumber's license.

"Joe the plumber really isn't a plumber," said Thomas Joseph, business manager of UA Local 50 of the Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics Union, whose national membership has endorsed Obama. (Joseph said Wurzelbacher applied for an apprentice program in 2003 but never completed the work.)

Wurzelbacher said he did not need a plumber's license to do residential work with Newell Heating & Plumbing, but David Golis, a Toledo building-inspections official, disputed that. "We were just discussing that we will send a letter to the owner of Newell reminding him" of the city's requirement that all who do plumbing work be licensed or in apprentice or journeyman programs, Golis said.

• Finally, Wurzelbacher admitted to reporters that the goal of buying the business was more aspirational than firm.

He said his income was "not even close" to levels at which Obama's tax increases would kick in. His employer consists of two full-time employees: himself and the owner, Al Newell. That suggests that when Wurzelbacher told Obama that the company "makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year," he probably was talking about gross receipts rather than net income.

Newell didn't respond to telephone calls, and Wurzelbacher has provided only the vaguest information on his and the company's finances. But if the business remained a two-person company and the net proceeds — after deductions for business expenses — were shared, both incomes most likely would fall well below the top tax brackets on which Obama wants to raise rates, as would the company.

Both, in fact, probably would be eligible for a tax cut, said Bob Williams, senior research associate at the independent, nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, although the cut probably would be greater under McCain's plan.

Wurzelbacher told Couric that Obama's approach to tax increases are worrisome. "When's he going to decide that $100,000 is too much, you know?" Wurzelbacher said. "... I mean, where does it end?"

McCain senior adviser Matt McDonald said Thursday that the fact that Wurzelbacher was not a licensed plumber or that his situation was not relevant to Obama's tax proposal did not give him pause.

"He's a guy who asked a question that needed to be asked," McDonald said. "He's not a campaign staffer, he's not a surrogate. He's not someone who was vetted, and this wasn't something orchestrated by the campaign."

Compiled from The Washington Post, The New York Times and

The Associated Press