'Joe the Plumber' Plans Life After 2008 Election.
Joe Wurzelbacher plans to use his newfound fame for the greater good, he says, opening up a charitable group that is built on "American values."
FOXNews.com
Monday, November 03, 2008
Joe the Plumber is short on cash and unemployed but that's not stopping him from opening a new charitable foundation and penning a book on American values.
"I got no financial offers. I am broke," Joe Wurzelbacher said Monday, explaining that he's got a few ideas on how to spread the wealth to himself and others following bogus reports of a professional management deal and potential country music career.
"I am starting a charity up, it's called 'Secure Our Dream.' It's just about people, neighbors in the community," Wurzelbacher told FOXNews.com.
The plumber-turned-media-fixture got a taste for charity work last week at an event in Philadelphia that aimed to help out family members of police officers killed in the line of duty.
He said he hasn't figured out how he's going to finance the charity, but knows how he wants the money to be spent.
"You know there's a lady on my street that is going to lose her house because of disability. You know ... that's something this charity that I am starting would help, help people directly," he said.
Wurzelbacher made national headlines in late September when he asked Barack Obama a question about tax policy that elicited the Democratic candidate's response that he wants to "spread the wealth" around by raising taxes on individuals earning more than $250,000 a year.
Immediately becoming a media sensation, Wurzelbacher hasn't been doing any plumbing work these days. He said while he is looking forward to the notoriety of being Joe the Plumber dying down somewhat, he doesn't want the newfound fame to disappear altogether.
"Obviously I gotta keep out there to a degree. That way this can take off and some real help can happen," he said. "The federal government is really not going to be able to affect, really, people on a community level, whereas the Joe the Plumber persona, which is hard to even relate to that because I don't know it doesn't feel like me, but if (it) can bring money to people and you know help out" then it will have been useful.
Wurzelbacher said he doesn't want Obama, or anyone else, at the federal level dictating how to spend his money, especially when that dictation comes from people whom Wurzelbacher sees as less than generous.
"Americans have always been great at giving to charities. We give more than any other country in the world. Let's direct it here more at home. Obama at the federal level, he is going to dictate and take more out of my pocket and tell me who to give it to? You know I am a pretty nice guy, you know I give to charities, I give to my church. You know, Joe the Biden, what he gave -- $3,000 last year -- and this guy makes millions? Come on, you know, that's just ridiculous."
Wurzelbacher said he knows he is "not speaking for all Americans" but does feel that he has some cause to use his recent publicity to maximum effect.
"The reason why I feel somewhat able to do it is because the letters and phone calls I get, and I get a ton of them. ... Democrat or Republican I am getting incredible feedback. So, authorized by the American people to speak for them? No. But a lot of people coming up to me and saying keep doing it, keep doing it. Civic duty is not a punch line with me. That's how I was raised and that's why I keep doing it."
But charity isn't Wurzelbacher's sole goal. Sharing the wealth also means helping himself. To that end, he's working with writer Tom Tabback on a book about American values.
"Everyone came at me to write a book. They had dollar signs in their eyes. '101 Things Joe the Plumber Knows' or some stupid s--- like that. Excuse me, I am sorry," he said. "You know I will get behind something solid, but I won't get behind fluff. I won't cash in, and when people do read the book they will figure out that I didn't cash in. At least I hope they figure that out."
The book, called "Joe the Plumber -- Fighting for the American Dream," is to be released by a group called PearlGate Publishing and other small publishing houses.
"I am not going to a conglomerate that way we actually can get the economy jump started. Like there is five publishing companies in Michigan. There's a couple down in Texas. They are small ones that can handle like 10 or 15,000 copies. I can go to a big one that could handle a million or two. But they don't need the help. They are already rich. So that's spreading the wealth to me," he said.
