Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has maintained, since before taking office, that integrity would be the keystone of his administration. If he intends to stick to that pledge, he should fire Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the state Department of Job and Family Services.

It has become clear that Jones-Kelley allowed her department to be used for political purposes - sometimes with her direct involvement. Ohioans of all political persuasions should be outraged about that. They should not tolerate it.

Complaints against Jones-Kelley fall under two general headings:

• First, she ordered her staff to look up personal records on Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, the Toledo-area resident who became renowned as "Joe the Plumber" during the general election campaign. "Joe's" complaint about taxes was used by then-candidate for president John McCain, a Republican. Jones-Kelley is a Democrat.

Last week, state Inspector General Tom Charles reported results of his investigation into the matter. There was no legitimate purpose for Jones-Kelley to have agency records searched for information on Wurzelbacher, Charles reported.

Jones-Kelley insists that, "my only intent was to fulfill my agency's fiduciary responsibility to Ohio's families." She has yet to explain how searching records for information on Wurzelbacher had anything to do with that. Obviously, she cannot provide such an explanation - because she isn't being candid.

• The second complaint against Jones-Kelley is that she used her office to assist in fundraising for the campaign of then-candidate, now president-elect Barack Obama. That issue already has been investigated - and concrete proof of the allegations has been found.

Last week, Strickland placed Jones-Kelley on a one-month, unpaid suspension. Yet he has resisted calls that she be fired for abusing her position.

Make no mistake about Jones-Kelley: What she did was not as a result of errors or misunderstandings about ethics. She understood fully what she was doing - and should face consequences for her misdeeds.

If Strickland allows her to stay in office, he will be admitting that his pledges in regard to ethics were no different than those made so often in the past by other politicians who had no intentions of keeping their promises. In other words, Strickland will be admitting that "change" really isn't on the horizon. We think Strickland meant what he said about ethics. If so, he should fire Jones-Kelley immediately.