Congress, Politics

Excerpt from the Hypocrite Files: Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois, Debt Ceiling Darling & Deadbeat Dad

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

Joe Walsh’s Video: President Obama Quit Lying

http://youtu.be/jU3SBeoG9uQ

(I apologize. I’ve tried to embed the video several times without success.)

It appears that Joe Walsh, the Republican Representative from the Eighth District in Illinois, isn’t so fiscally responsible when it comes to his own finances. The same man who says he refuses to place “one more dollar of debt upon the backs of his kids,” actually “owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December.” He also lost his Evanston condo to foreclosure.

Lawrence O’Donnell was so disgusted with Walsh that he banned him from his MSNBC program The Last Word. Here’s what O’Donnell said on his program last week:

An excerpt from what O’Donnell said:
“In order to teach deadbeat dad Joe Walsh a lesson about family values, yes, the very same family values that so many Republicans try to exploit politically while failing to come close to living up to them in their own lives, deadbeat dad Joe Walsh is hereby banned from this program. He can go tell his lies about his family values and his sense of fiscal responsibility elsewhere.”

Is this the type of man whose advice we should be taking when it comes to the Debt Ceiling? Have the Tea Party politicians and other Republicans brought our country to the brink of financial disaster?  

From Lynn Sweet:

The Tea Party Republicans and other conservatives took the nation to the brink, pushing too close to the Aug. 2 default deadline for a deal that was not all that different than what had been on the table a few days ago.

The agreement — with major spending reductions — gives Republicans much of what they wanted while opening a rift with Democratic progressives for Obama because it puts cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid “entitlement” programs on the table while not at this time closing tax loopholes to generate more revenue.

Will the new Debt Deal agreement really be beneficial to our country? Has the Obama Administration caved once again? Your thoughts?

SOURCES
Lawrence O’Donnell Bans Joe Walsh From His Show Over Child Support Scandal (Huffington Post)

Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh sued for $100,000 in child support  (Chicago Sun-Times)

Rep. Joe Walsh: Says Sun-Times story on back child support claims a “hit piece” (Chicago Sun-Times)

Debt deal bottom line: Dick Durbin, Nancy Pelosi, Jan Schakowsky, Mark Kirk, Joe Walsh (Chicago Sun-Times)

Lawrence O’Donnell bans ‘deadbeat dad’ Rep. Joe Walsh (Raw Story)

Rep. Joe Walsh sued for child support (The Hill)

Debt-ceiling drama: Tea Party thinks it knows best (Washington Post)

Tea Party Hypocrite Joe Walsh Wants Us to Raise His Child Support Debt Ceiling (CafeMom)

54 thoughts on “Excerpt from the Hypocrite Files: Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois, Debt Ceiling Darling & Deadbeat Dad”

  1. “I think we really have to wait and see. We’re confident he’ll be able to resolve this issue,” said Caprio, whose PAC backed Walsh in 2010. “It’s a dispute as I understand it. I understand the children have all received a very good education, and no one has been out on the street.”

    It’s a dispute? The Hell you say, Paul. You figured that out all by yourself? But it’s not only a dispute. It’s a violated court order and the burden of proof is on your boy to prove he didn’t violate said order.

    “To put it bluntly, it’s none of my business,” said Jerry McDaniel, executive director of the Illinois Conservative Action Network, which endorsed Walsh in 2010. “If he has problems with his ex-wife, I don’t know exactly how that would affect his work as a congressman.”

    To put it bluntly, it’s not like a Congressman has to obey a court order or anything. Laws and judgements are for the little people after all. Aren’t they, Jerry?

    What a couple of idiots!

  2. Tea Party sticking with alleged deadbeat dad
    Rep. Joe Walsh is embroiled in a nasty court battle with his ex-wife over child support payments
    BY JUSTIN ELLIOTT
    Salon, 9/15/2011
    http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/09/15/joe_walsh_child_support/index.html

    Excerpt:
    Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., has quickly become one of the most recognizable Tea Party freshmen in Congress, making headlines and earning admiration from the right for his withering attacks on Barack Obama, including calling the president a liar and “idiotic.”

    But in recent weeks a nasty court fight between Walsh and his ex-wife, who alleges that he owes $117,000 in back child support for their three children, has spilled into public view. The story got us wondering: How do Tea Party types who supported Walsh in 2010 feel about the allegations?

    So far, they’re either withholding judgment or giving Walsh — who ran on a family values platform — the benefit of the doubt. His campaign platform spoke of “traditional marriage” and referred to the family as “the core unit which determines the strength of any society.”

    “To put it bluntly, it’s none of my business,” said Jerry McDaniel, executive director of the Illinois Conservative Action Network, which endorsed Walsh in 2010. “If he has problems with his ex-wife, I don’t know exactly how that would affect his work as a congressman.”

    “I’m kind of an old man, and I know how divorces go,” McDaniel added.

    I put the same question to Paul Caprio, director of Family-PAC, the “leading pro-family, anti-tax political action committee in Illinois.”

    “I think we really have to wait and see. We’re confident he’ll be able to resolve this issue,” said Caprio, whose PAC backed Walsh in 2010. “It’s a dispute as I understand it. I understand the children have all received a very good education, and no one has been out on the street.”

  3. Judge Orders Joe Walsh To Prove He Doesn’t Owe Back Child-Support
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/14/judge-scolds-rep-joe-wals_n_962633.html

    Excerpt:
    After months of dismissing allegations that he owed his ex-wife more than $100,000 in back child support, U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh was ordered Wednesday to provide the court with proof that he isn’t a deadbeat dad.

    According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Cook County Circuit Judge Raul Vega expressed frustration when the Illinois Republican and Tea Party favorite did not appear in court along with his ex-wife, Laura Walsh.

    From the Sun-Times:

    Walsh’s new attorney, Janet Boyle, asked Vega “for what purpose” he wanted the congressman in court.

    Vega gave her a puzzled look.

    To which Boyle responded: “Mr. Walsh is a U.S. congressman.”

    “Well, he’s no different than anyone else,” the judge said.

    The judge then issued a “rule to show cause,” asking that Walsh provide proof that he made the child support payments–or risk being held in contempt for falling behind.

  6. Town Hall Attendee Tells GOP Rep. Joe Walsh: ‘Let’s Tax The Rich’
    By Travis Waldron on Aug 6, 2011
    Think Progress
    http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/08/06/289618/joe-walsh-townhall-tax-rich/

    Excerpt:
    At a Thursday town hall meeting in Wauconda, Illinois, Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) railed against defense cuts and entitlement programs, telling attendees that Americans refuse to have a discussion about how best to rein in the nation’s deficit and debt. But when Walsh asked how Americans planned to pay for those programs, he was caught off guard by a quick answer from one of the event’s attendees:

    WALSH: This country, for years, has put off the discussion, how are we going to pay for that? Let’s have the discussion!

    MAN: Let’s tax the rich.

    WALSH: Let’s tax the rich, they say! (Applause) All I’m saying is —

    MAN: We used to!

    WALSH: Don’t know where you’re going to get the money.

  7. Great Sun Times article Elaine. It shows that Walsh is a deadbeat and a cancer that needs to be removed from the Congressional body.

  8. Rep. Joe Walsh allegedly owing $100,000 in child support sums up enforcement issues
    BY MARY MITCHELL
    Chicago Sun-Times
    http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/6826921-417/rep.-joe-walsh-allegedly-owing-100000-in-child-support-sums-up-enforcement-issues

    Excerpt:
    As bad as all this looks, Walsh’s lawyer claims that the congressman “had no more problems with child support than any other average guy.”

    I can’t believe that response sits well with Walsh’s Tea Party supporters who characterize themselves as trying to do the right thing for their families and their country.

    And let’s take a look at those average deadbeat dads who were recently arrested by the Cook County Sheriff’s Department during a Father’s Day sting.

    Among those arrested was Cleveland Keys Jr., 46, who owns a barber shop in Evergreen Park. Keys owes $213,677.41 in child support. Byron Portis, 29, owes $59,227, and when investigators caught up with him, they found $44,000 stuffed in a bag and four loaded firearms. Cook County Sheriff’s police also nabbed Yaser Hadidi, 51, a man who had already been arrested five times for failure to pay $50,935.48 in child support. According to authorities, Hadidi had recently been arrested for LINK card fraud during a sting at his Bellwood liquor store.

    Is there a pattern here?

    Joe Walsh lost his Evanston condo to foreclosure and is being sued by his former campaign manager, Keith Liscio, for $20,000 in salary Liscio said he is owed, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

    Despite earlier revelations of foreclosures and property liens, Walsh managed to convince voters in his suburban district that he’s the “Average Joe” they need to represent them in the U.S. Congress.

    That’s just sad.

    While Walsh may have a wit quick enough to snag a sound bite, if he failed to diligently pay his child support, he is unfit to lead.

    Indeed, Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart is one week away from posting photographs of 1,000 deadbeat parents.

    In most instances, sheriff’s police have to track these parents from one address to another because they tend to get paid under the table and pay for items in cash.

    All four of the men pictured with the word “CAPTURED” stamped across their faces in the “deadbeat parents” section of the Cook County Sheriff’s website owe less than Walsh is accused of owing.

    In fact, James L. Alexander, a 27-year-old West Side man, was locked up for owing $8,422 in back child support.

    So while Walsh and his supporters will attempt to quash the heat he has gotten by characterizing the child support expose as a politically motivated attack, that’s not the case.

    Simply put, elected officials are leaders and should set a positive example for the rest of us. Walsh misses the mark.

    Because failing to provide for one’s children is as bad as it gets.

  12. A local religious group was running an ad with this “If your doctor is obese, chain smokes, and drinks 4 six-packs a day does that make his medical advice any less valid?” line of reasoning as an excuse for Christians behaving badly.

    My answer is yes, it does in fact make their advice less valid. Since the good doctor in this fairy tale does not deem the evidence enough to warrant changes of life style it suggests the behaviors are not all that bad.

    That is not, however, even mildly comparable to someone forcing their moral beliefs on others while not living them themselves. Politicians who what to outlaw gay or eliminate divorce or punish infidelity or fornication while engaging in those activities are doing more than giving advice.

  13. From the newdeal20.org article:

    At one point, Duncan said, Mulvaney picked up a Bible and read a verse from Proverbs 22: “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”

    “It’s telling me to really be bold, to really fight for structural changes,” Duncan said.

    “Mulvaney snapped the Bible closed. And I said, ‘Guys, that’s all I need to see,’ ” Duncan said. “Tim said, ‘Yep.’ And we stood up and walked out.”

    ==========

    “Family” guys, maybe?

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