Walsh denies reports of ending child support duties
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By Mike Flannery, FOX 32 News Political Editor - bio | email
CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
Former Rep Joe Walsh (R-Illinois) said Monday night that, despite losing his seat in Congress, he plans "to care for and fully support" his son, Patrick, a high school senior.
Asked about a Sun-Times report that his ex-wife's lawyer accused Walsh of skipping a child support payment due earlier this month, he declared, "My ex-wife's lawyer is lying." Walsh acknowledged that the payment this month was substantially short of the $2,134 he had been paying until he left Congress on Jan. 3rd. He also acknowledged informing the Cook County Circuit Court that he had lost his job and was unemployed. He had been paying 20% of his net income as representative of the Eighth Congressional District. Walsh's legal obligation to pay child support to former spouse Laura Walsh continues through May. That's when Patrick Walsh is scheduled to graduate from high school.
The outspoken Tea Party activist said he was "weighing two very interesting opportunities," that would soon restore his income. He said child support payments to his former wife would then "be in the same ballpark or even larger" than the $2,134 a month she'd been receiving.
Walsh said one job offer is a "local media opportunity." He said the other "is a political opportunity."
After his 2010 election to Congress, Laura Walsh went to court seeking $117,000 in back child support payments. Last summer, she and Joe Walsh reached an out-of-court settlement. Their son, Joe, campaigned for his father's re-election, rejecting the claims of Democratic attack ads that then-Rep. Walsh was "a deadbeat dad."
The former congressman said Monday, ""I will take care of my children, as I always have" Walsh said.
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