Local Radio Station Bails Out Joe The Plumber

Shortly after John McCain made Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher a household name following last Wednesday’s presidential debate, reporters and bloggers soon discovered a couple problems with Joe’s everyman story.

First, they discovered his name wasn’t exactly Joe—full name Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. Then, it turned out that while he practices the trade, Joe wasn’t a licensed plumber. And finally, while Joe was bemoaning Barack Obama’s proposed tax increases, the Ohioan was also delinquent on paying his own—with a $1,200 tax lien against him by the state of Ohio.

In response to the media coverage, two local Portland, Oregon radio hosts launched this article to help Wurzelbacher pay his back taxes.

Portland’s 1190 KEX’s afternoon News Radio hosts Mark Mason and Dave Anderson succeeded in that goal today, not only raising the $1,200 Joe the Plumber needs to pay his taxes, but also the $500 he’ll need to get his plumber’s license.

In an e-mail to Washington Wire, Mason writes that the hosts spoke to Wurzelbacher and his brother on air tonight to break the news. “We just spoke with Joe (and his brother) LIVE right now…felt that the media was unfair in that they never seemed to ask HIM about his background,” Mason wrote this evening, “He was very grateful for the $$.”