Fresh off his registration as a Toledo City Council candidate, Kevin Milliken received frightening news.

Making the rounds of Toledo’s media July 14 are some of Milliken’s most private details. An anonymous party e-mailed four Toledo television stations, two Toledo blogs, and two news publications Milliken’s divorce records, complete with Social Security numbers and personal expenses.

“This is a faceless, nameless and baseless attack launched via the anonymity of e-mail and the Internet,” Milliken said. “I stepped into the public arena hoping to become a public servant, not a politician. I did not step into that arena to have someone hang the personal details of a tough situation out there for the world to see.”

Milliken said the mass mailing contained private personal information which had not received a redaction.

He said the messenger identified themselves only as “William Adams,” a name he said contains no significance to him. More importantly, Milliken said, the incident reveals chinks in the armor of identity protection for Ohioans.

“This opens a Pandora’s box to identity theft,” Milliken said. “With a birth date and Social Security number they can pretend to be me and get any information they want.”

New ruling

Bernie Quilter, the Lucas County Clerk of Court, said duplicating a situation like Milliken’s is startlingly easy. All Ohio court records, he said, are public records. On July 1, he said, the Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling titled Rule No. 44 through 47 took effect. This law forbids clearly visible personal identifiers such as bank account or Social Security numbers in public records, he said. Cases filed before the July 1 cutoff, he said, do not receive such redactions. Milliken’s case, he said, was filed Dec. 18, 2008.

“When you file a case in court, it becomes public record,” Quilter said. “I am required by Constitutional law to give out public records. People should make sure their attorneys file their records with their personal identifiers concealed.”

Quilter said he is troubled by the simplicity with which citizens can find information about another’s identity. Current laws, he said, halt him from keeping records once someone has requested them. He said his office has invested $350,000 in redaction equipment, which will eventually guard records filed before July 1, 2009 in the same as records filed afterward.

“My goal is to protect as much of the public out there as I can,” he said. “Our forefathers never dreamed of Social Security numbers, identity theft and the Internet. It is a shame what happened to Kevin. There is nothing I can do for him.”

Quilter said although each Ohio court record starts off in the public domain, but a judge can seal them, thus keeping its contents private. This process occurs at the discretion of the individual judge presiding over the record, he said.

Milliken said the leak is an attempt to discredit his candidacy, and by extension, Teamwork Toledo. He said his estranged spouse and ten-year old child did not seek the limelight his political aspirations often place him in. He said the document lists his child’s name in plain sight, a fact he wishes would remain private.

“There are innocent lives being affected here,” Milliken said. “[My former wife] is not seeking office and neither is my child. I am offended at someone’s willful disregard for a person’s family.”

Quilter said although he feels “really bad” for Milliken, a council candidacy opens the floodgates for scrutiny.

“When you throw your name into politics you are an open book,” Quilter said. “That is the name of the game and it takes a lot of guts to put your name on the ballot as a Democrat, Republican or Independent.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 6:51 pm and is filed under Breaking News, Community, Politics.
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