Tea Party freshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) owes $117,437 in child support to his ex-wife and three children

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/07/28/281570/rep-joe-walsh-defends-not-paying-117000-in-child-support-this-is-where-real-america-is/

By Marie Diamond on Jul 28, 2011 at 12:00 pm

iamond on Jul 28, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Last night the Chicago Sun-Times broke the story that Tea Party freshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), who has spent months lecturing President Obama and Democrats on fiscal responsibility, owes $117,437 in child support to his ex-wife and three children. Laura Walsh has asked a judge to suspend his driver’s license until he pays his child support. Despite loaning his own campaign $35,000 — and paying himself back at least $14,200 for the loans — Walsh claims he failed to make the payments because he “had no money.”

The tax-bashing congressman campaigned on a pledge to reject the Washington “status quo” and has bragged about his own frugality, claiming he even sleeps in his congressional office to save money. Walsh, who’s been described as “the biggest media hound in the freshman class,” has been a prominent voice in the debt ceiling showdown in recent weeks, making television appearances almost every day to denounce President Obama’s “reckless spending,” which he says has “bankrupted this country.”

[.....]

When questions about his personal finances dogged his congressional campaign, Walsh once again claimed he wasn’t a rich man, despite managing to pay $3,300 per month for a house in upscale Winnetka.

[...]

(Walsh’s Wikipedia page excludes his first marriage.)

..