EVERETT — “Joe the Plumber” of Echo Lake seems to be a little more publicity shy than “Joe the Plumber” of Holland, Ohio.
Joe Cort, who runs a one-man plumbing business from his home south of Monroe, hasn’t appeared on national TV like Samuel J. Wurzelbacher of the Toledo, Ohio, suburb of Holland — the “Joe the Plumber” made famous in Wednesday’s presidential debate.
Cort, 57, did an all-day job at a house in Redmond on Thursday, then headed to his grandson’s birthday party.
Joe of Monroe had to be talked into talking about Joe of Toledo.
“I don’t know what to say,” Cort said. “It was weird that ‘Joe the Plumber’ was interviewed.”
Wurzelbacher, 34, has become something of a media curiosity since he confronted Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama in Toledo on Sunday about taxes.
Wurzelbacher said he was considering buying his own plumbing business and was concerned about taxes he thought he would have to pay under Obama’s tax plan if his income rose above $250,000 per year.
Sen. John McCain, Obama’s Republican opponent, brought up Wurzelbacher in the debate as part of his argument against Obama’s tax policies. He referred several times to “Joe the Plumber.”
Cort said that while he’s a business owner, he’s not worried about being bumped into a higher tax bracket.
“I do pretty well but I don’t think I make $250,000 a year,” Cort said.
Still, he understood Wurzelbacher’s concern.
“I’m sort of more a McCain guy, I guess,” Cort said. “It would probably hurt a small business owner, if they had taxes come up against them like that. I sort of agreed with him.”
Another difference between Toledo Joe and Monroe Joe: The latter has a plumbing license, on file with the state Department of Labor and Industries.
Plumbers unions are supporting Obama, said Todd Taylor, assistant business manager for the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 26 in Burlington. The local represents employee plumbers in Western Washington except for King County, he said.
“Labor’s backing Barack Obama, the international union’s backing Barack Obama,” Taylor said.
“He’s handled himself very well these last three debates, We just hope that’s the direction the country’s headed.”
For some, Wurzelbacher has become a joke — or at least the situation has.
It was a big topic of discussion at Day &Nite Plumbing and Heating of Lynnwood on Thursday, though nobody who works there is named Joe.
“I was just laughing about Joe, and now everybody’s going to change their name to Joe,” said Doris, who answered the phone at the business and didn’t want to give her last name.
“And we were just commenting about that, and how that guy’s going to make more money now than anybody thought possible.”
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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