McHenry County Blog

A statement from former Congressman Joe Walsh:

I Will Sue the Chicago Sun-Times

“Late this afternoon, the Chicago Sun-Times posted a story on-line that claimed that I wanted to stop making child support payments. That claim is an absolute lie, and I will no longer stand for it.

The Tuesday article that started the current round of child support articles about Joe Walsh.

“Here are the facts:

• My three kids are 25, 22, and 18-years-old.
• My youngest son will be emancipated in May of this year when he graduates from high school.
• Two weeks ago, I did what every other father who is paying child support is supposed to do — by law — when their employment situation changes — I modified my support agreement.
• With my Congressional term ending on January 3, and with my ex-wife having been paid in full through my term in Congress, by law, I filed a modification of my support payments for my remaining unemancipated child for these next four months.

“This modification called for me to pay my ex-wife 20% of my net income during these four months, which is my responsibility by law.

“This is what the law requires me to do, and I’ve met that obligation.

“I’ve only been out of Congress for a month, and I expect to be employed again very soon.

“Regardless, I will continue with my child support payments by law until my son Patrick is emancipated.

“This action was not done surreptitiously or with any malice towards my ex-wife.

“I did exactly what the law required me to do. Nothing was covered-up.

“Nothing was hidden.

“Earlier this afternoon, Natasha Korecki of the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote a story about me and my child support arrangement, without bothering to speak to me or to my attorney.

“The story stated and implied that I did not want to make child support payments and was behind on payments.

“Both statements are false.

“I have never shirked my financial responsibility for my children.

“The Sun Times has had a vendetta against me since I was first elected.

“I will no longer take it.

“I have had to live with the ‘deadbeat dad’ label, even though the original case against me was dropped one year ago, and my ex-wife acknowledged that I have always been a loving and supportive father.

“This article by the Sun Times is a deliberate attempt to defame me, and I will sue them immediately.

“My adult children have been my life.

“I pledged to them two years ago that I would fight these charges privately to keep them out of the news, but with the Chicago Sun Times fabricating a story, I am, at long last, going to fight back.

“There is no story here, I did what all supportive fathers are supposed to do by law, and as always, I will continue to support my children and now go after anyone who says otherwise.”

Joe Walsh asks the media to report this news with the same vigor they reported the suit.

This was recording Thursday, April 19, 2012:

“…not a day has gone by when I haven’t wanted to scream the truth and tell my side of the story on TV or in the newspaper.

“But I didn’t and I won’t because a public fight would have been the worst thing in the world for my kids.”

An email from Congressman Joe Walsh:

Joe Walsh

Dear Friends,

Over 16 months ago, a suit was filed accusing me of owing back child support.

From the very beginning and throughout this entire ordeal, my only public response has been –

“These allegations are false and I am going to fight them with all my strength to clear my name, but I am going to fight them privately, quietly, and legally.”

That’s what I’ve done.

I am very happy to tell you that this morning the case against me has been dismissed, the charges dropped, my name has been cleared, and both my ex-wife and I will go back to raising our three children — ages 24, 21, and 17 — in private.

Below is the joint statement we released immediately after the case was dismissed:

“We both regret this public misunderstanding and the effect it has had on our children.

“Like many families, we have had our share of issues and made our share of mistakes over the years.

“Having resolved these issues together and cleared up these mistakes in private, we now agree that Joe is not and was not a ‘deadbeat dad’ and does not owe child support.

“We both have been loving and devoted parents to our children, ages 24, 21, and 17, and are happy to avoid a public legal fight hurtful to our entire family and look forward to caring for our children in private.”

I am glad this is over.

I don’t regret not fighting back publicly all these months.

Fighting the charges privately and legally was the right thing to do for my kids and it was the fair thing to do to the mother of my kids.

I may have taken some slings and arrows over this issue this past year, but I have no regrets over not waging a public fight.

Though there were plenty of days I wanted to scream my side of the story to the TV or newspapers, I always knew my name would be cleared.

Both my former wife and I have been loving, involved parents for our three wonderful adult and almost adult children, we shared residential custody equally over the years, and we both did our best to send all of them to Catholic grade school and high school.

With these charges and this issue now behind me, I will focus on continuing to represent the good folks of Illinois’ 8th District and running hard to find solutions for the issues voters care about — finding a job, the price of gas at the pump, keeping their home, and doing something about this unconscionable debt we’re placing on the backs of our kids and our grandkids.

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and support during this tough period.

It hasn’t been easy. I know I made myself a target by being so outspoken once I got to Washington.

I won’t change who I am. It is gratifying to finally be able to say again to everyone that their Congressman is not a deadbeat dad.

Thank You,

Congressman Joe Walsh

This promotion of Joe Walsh's child support hearing means that every media outlet in Chicago will be at tomorrow's court hearing.

If you were a suburban Republican, how would you like to have a Cook County Judge helping decide your political future?

That’s the situation that Congressman Joe Walsh is in.

And, considering that the Chicago Tribune is promoting his child support hearing as the number one thing happening tomorrow, Walsh can expect a full-court press.

Walsh’s court hearing is even more important than everything happening in the General Assembly’s Springfield Veto (or maybe Veto Override) Session.

A press release from Congressman Joe Walsh. If you wish to read the entire pleading, you can find it here.

Rep. Walsh on Latest Development in Court Case

“Yesterday’s pleading proves that I have been a loving, supportive, involved Dad from the beginning”

Joe Walsh listens to Randy Hultgren campaign manager Joe Calomino at the Nunda Township GOP meeting Monday. To the left is Jim Bishop. To the right is Alan Skillikorn. Joe Wheeler is seen in the foreground.

WASHINGTON – Yesterday as he has promised to do from the start, Congressman Walsh continued to fight, through the legal system, the untrue allegations by his ex-wife Laura Walsh.

Mr. Walsh filed his pleading along with substantial evidence that for the first time allowed him to submit the full and true story regarding the care of his children.

The key points in the plea are:

• Mr. Walsh was able to prove (backed up with checks cashed by Laura Walsh) that he did in fact make years of payments at a time in which Laura Walsh claimed she received no payments from Mr. Walsh.
• Mr. Walsh did in fact pay his share of the education costs for all of his Children to attend Catholic school; despite the claim that Laura Walsh claims she incurred all of the costs.
• By blatantly and knowingly submitting false information in her pleading Laura Walsh and her attorney’s not only broke Illinois state law, but it is clear that the only point in submitting these allegations was an attempt to tarnish the Congressman’s reputation.
• From 2007 on, the children lived with Mr. Walsh half the time.
• Over a five year period, Mr. Walsh and his wife agreed to both increases and decreases in child support changes, without modifying them in court.
• In fact for almost a full year while Laura Walsh was making $140,000 a year and living in another state, Mr. Walsh provided full time residential custodial care for his youngest son, despite making significantly less money than Laura Walsh.
• At no time did Mr. Walsh ever ask Laura Walsh for child support despite her high salary and the fact that he was the full time care giver of their only remaining dependent child.

“I don’t know why my ex-wife filed this complaint last December, three weeks after I was elected a U.S. Congressman.

“I don’t know why she and her lawyers knowingly filed a complaint with outright untrue allegations and claims.

“I don’t know why they have gone public and politicized this conflict.

“I do know that I won’t engage this case in the media, I won’t do that to my children and I won’t do that to the mother of my children.

“Throughout our marriage and after our divorce, my ex wife and I have both done our best to be loving supportive parents to all three of our children.

“As much as I have tried to sit down with her and work things out these past nine months, I still do not understand why she has decided to take this public route.

“Her actions though have left me no choice but to defend myself through the court system.

“While I have tried to avoid discussing this case with the press, it is clear that the media are now fixated on this case, and are willing to report on her allegations as though they are true.

“Now that I have submitted my pleading which is backed up by substantial evidence, I can only hope that the press will report on the facts with the same vigor they were willing to report on uncorroborated allegations.

“I have unfairly endured two months of media ridicule as a “\’deadbeat dad.’

“My children have had to endure this as well. Yesterday’s pleading proves this charge is unfounded and shows that I have been a loving, supportive, involved Dad from the beginning.

“I understand that politics is a rough business and I have been an outspoken member of Congress who has clearly become a target.

“But to lie about me, especially my worth as a Father just isn’t right and I won’t put up with it.”

Mr. Walsh filed his pleading yesterday in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.

Congressman Joe Walsh has filed his reply to the accusation by his ex-wife Laura that he owes $110,000 in back child support.

You can read it for yourself below. To make a page larger, click on it.

Copies of cashed checks follow, plus Laura Walsh’s income tax form for 2009.

Statement from Congressman Joe Walsh’s Attorney, Janet Boyle:

Contrary to the erroneous Sun Times story, there was no order entered requiring Representative Walsh to appear on the next court date.

The next court date is a status proceeding not a hearing which was also erroneously reported by the Sun-Times.

The Court simply requested that both attorneys provide him with copies of their respective pleadings on the November 8th date after I asked for the ability to file new pleadings which I expect will fully set forth Rep. Walsh’s responses to the allegations of his former wife.

Pursuant to Illinois statutes the burden of proof now shifts to Rep Walsh upon the Rule issuing.

Mr. Walsh is very satisfied with the judge’s orders of today, as it will finally afford him the opportunity to present his case to the court.

The Saturday Chicago Tribune editorial. Click to enlarge.

Newspaper coverage of Congressman Joe Walsh’s child support payment problems diminished over the weekend.

I could find only two mentions in Chicago’s daily newspapers.

Walsh was ridiculed in the Chicago Tribune on Saturday.  That’s probably the edition that is least read during the week.

The Tribune, of course, did not endorse Walsh and, at best, is Establishment Republican.

Thinking back on the endorsements I received in 16 state rep. elections, I can’t remember one I got when it could have made any difference.

Here’s a taste from the editorial, a suggestion for “an excellent slogan” for Walsh’s next election:

“Joe Walsh: He hates spending his own money, and he hates spending yours.“

A Sunday Chicago Sun-Times editorial page contribution also talks about the 2012 election.

Carol Marin's Sunday, July 31, 2011, column about Joe Walsh's political problems.

Carol Marin, never a friend to conservatives, nevertheless seems to want to provide some “you know what, Walsh might win in 2012, even though he’s been trashed in the media” text she can point to just in case Walsh pulls off what will now be considered another stunning upset upset.

She reprints the front page of Thursday’s Sun-Times (just in case any Sunday readers missed it on Thursday, I guess).

Then she points to the first two words in the headline: “TEA PARTY.”

And, she starts her column,

“Don’t underestimate Joe Walsh.“

Considering the way all but the We Ask America polling firm dismissed Walsh’s possibility of beating Melissa Bean, a Marin favorite, I’d say the senior female opinion-maker in the Chicago area is hedging her bet this time.

Huffington Post reported Saturday that MSNBC’s Laurence O’Donnell has banned Walsh from his program until he pays his back child support.

MSNBC's Laurence O'Donnell announces he won't have Joe Walsh on his program again until he pays the child support he owes. O'Donnell starts by showing the shoot-out between Chris Matthews and Walsh. O'Donnell says Walsh makes no sense. Judge for yourself below.

Northwest Herald Executive Editor Chris Krug thinks pretty much everyone has watched the video above in which Joe Walsh goes toe-to-toe with Chris Matthews.

Krug also weighed in his Sunday.  column.  In view of his being part of the decision-making group that decided to endorse Melissa Bean last year, I find this comment of particular interest:

“So what I am now thinking is that, regardless of what he has done, does, says or might say, there may be room in Washington for Walsh for years to come.”

Are Krug and Marin laying the groundwork to explain a Walsh 2012 victory, however unlikely they think that possibility is?

A press release from Congressman Joe Walsh on Sun-Times story:

Congressman Walsh Statement on Chicago Sun-Times Hit Piece

WASHINGTON –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.

Joe Walsh discusses issues with man at Crystal Lake's Country Donuts in a June "Joe with Joe."

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.

Tuesday’s editorial in the Chicago Sun-Times made it clear that the paper has no use for the message being forcefully delivered by Congressman Joe Walsh.

The headline was

“Joe Walsh has a loud voice, but nothing to say“

Walsh, as you may remember, used the word “liar” to describe President Barack Obama’s statement that failure to raise the debt ceiling would result in Social Security checks being sent out.

Since monthly Federal revenues are far in excess of the required interest payments on the national debt, Social Security, it would be the President’s choice whether payments to the old and disabled should be suspended or other less politically explosive expenditures.

Needless to say,  the liberal talking heads on TV were livid that Walsh had forced that fact into the national spotlight.
Now a suit filed by Walsh’s ex-wife for over $100,000 in child support and alimony has allowed the Sun-Times to hammer Walsh on its front page.

The basic charge is hypocrisy.

The small print on the front page reads,

“Freshman Rep. Joe Walsh, who sharply lectures President Barack Obama on fiscal responsibility, owes more than $100,000 to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December.”

The headline blares,

“TEA PARTY REP. SUED FOR $100,000 IN CHILD SUPPORT“