Life Has Not Been Good For Him So Far…

Freshman Illinois Representative Joe Walsh, who has a reputation as a tax-bashing Tea Party champion who sharply lectures President Barack Obama and other Democrats on fiscal responsibility revealed his secrets today. The best way to save money is to not pay your bills. It turns out he owes his ex-wife and THREE children over $100,000 in child support! O yeah he also lost his condominium to foreclosure, and not paying child support for his three children, has not stopped him from marrying again and having more kids.

Walsh admits he is not wealthy. Some of his financial problems — including losing his Evanston condo to foreclosure — were documented before his out-of-nowhere victory last fall in the 8th Congressional District in Chicago’s north and northwest suburbs.

But court documents examined this week by the Chicago Sun-Times during research for a profile on the increasingly visible congressman showed his financial issues also included a nine-year child support battle with his ex-wife.

Before getting elected, he had told Laura Walsh that because he was out of work or between jobs, he could not make child support payments. So she was surprised to read in his congressional campaign disclosures that he was earning enough money to loan his campaign $35,000.

“Joe personally loaned his campaign $35,000, which, given that he failed to make any child support payments to Laura because he ‘had no money’ is surprising,” Laura Walsh’s attorneys wrote in a motion filed in December seeking $117,437 in back child support and interest. “Joe has paid himself back at least $14,200 for the loans he gave himself.”

Walsh’s attorneys responded in court filings: “Respondent admits that funds were loaned to his campaign fund. . . . Respondent admits that the campaign fund has repaid certain loans.”

He personally wrote in court filings that he thought he and his ex-wife were coming to an agreement on the money he owes. He noted that the children have lived with him for part of the last nine years.

Walsh lives with his new wife and children in McHenry. He has not paid any of the $117,437 yet, Laura Walsh’s attorney, Jack Coladarci, said Wednesday.

Child support for his three children is also not the only bill he has skipped out on:

In addition to the foreclosure on his condominium, Walsh was haunted during his campaign by disclosures of liens on his property from unpaid bills and staffers abandoning his campaign, saying he wasn’t paying them.

Keith Liscio, who said Walsh hired him to be campaign manager — Walsh disputes that — has sued Walsh for $20,000 in salary he said Walsh owes him. Both sides are trying to settle that case.

Staffers learned during the campaign that Walsh was driving on a suspended license. His license was suspended twice in 2008 for his failure to appear in court, and he was cited in 2009 for driving on a suspended license, according to the Illinois Secretary of State.

Yet, like Kim Simac and David Vanderleest , personal problems do not matter to the Tea Party, as long as someone says they are a “fiscal conservative”.

Walsh has a video that has become very popular with the “tea party” ilk and the freepers. In this video he says:

“I won’t place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids and grandkids unless we structurally reform the way this town spends money!” Walsh says directly into the camera in his viral video lecturing Obama on the need to get the nation’s finances in order.

It turns out he is correct in one thing. He will not place one more dollar of debt on two of his children because they are over 18. One thing for sure, I hope Walsh does not ask for financial advice from Congressman Sean Duffy. For those who think Joe Walsh might sound familiar, we have written about him before.

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