Marathon Pundit: Sun-Times: Joe Walsh owes $100K in child support; UPDATED with Walsh statement

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Sun-Times: Joe Walsh owes $100K in child support; UPDATED with Walsh statement

Joe Walsh speaking in Morton Grove

Northwest suburban Chicago freshman congressman Joe Walsh is being sued for over $100,000 in child support, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting. The headline on the print and online edition calls him a "Tea Party Rep."

Which of course he is, but I wonder if the Sun-Times labeled Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Chicago) a liberal in its headline when he was reported to be behind in his child support payments a few years ago.

Walsh's money problems have been well-documented, he lost his Evanston condominium to foreclosure two years ago. His win over Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean was a major upset; Walsh received no financial backing from the national or state GOP.

The McHenry Republican's lawyer calls the claim by Walsh's ex-wife of a $117,437 child support debt "unfounded," but adds that he only began to make big money, his congressional salary of $175,000, until recently. Walsh sleeps in his Washington office when Congress is in session.

UPDATE 12:20pm CDT: Walsh is calling the Sun-Times report "a hit piece."
From a press release:

It is not lost on me that a court case filed almost 8 months ago regarding a marriage that ended more than 8 years ago would be brought up today. We are 72 hours away from one of the biggest decisions our country has to make about its financial future. I understand why this is a story and why the media has to ask me about it. I understood as a candidate, and I understand as a sitting member of Congress that the scrutiny of my personal life will be intense. This is a tough business. It’s also not lost on me that not everyone agrees with me politically, I am the tip of the spear in this current debate, and I will be attacked.

Let me say this. I love all the members of my family past and present. I've always given everything I have to meet my financial obligations to my children and I will fight until my last breath against anyone who says otherwise. My children are truly the treasure of my life, which is why I've been trying to resolve this issue since January in a court of law, rather than drag my children into it. That is the appropriate venue and I will not discuss this private family issue in public.

The people of Illinois' eighth congressional district voted for me not because I’m wealthy but because they wanted a fighter in Washington. They did not vote for me because I was a career politician, but because they wanted one of them as their Representative in DC. They wanted someone to stand up to Washington and tell them the spending has to stop. This morning that is exactly what I am going to continue to do.

I have tried to be the most accessible Congressman on the planet and I will continue to do so moving forward. These latest attacks against me are false and I will fight them in the appropriate venue. And as your Congressman I promise you that I am going to put my head down, get back to work and continue to fight for our freedoms and our children's future. I'm not going to let some hit piece in the media deter me from that.