Seems to me he didn't answer the question as to whether he has been fully paying his child support. Being wealthy has nothing to do with it. Being responsible does. Plenty of average income dads pay their child support without excuses. I read that his attorney says that he doesn't owe "as much" as the Sun Times reported. Truth is - he should'nt owe ANY. He lectures others about responsibility yet doesn't meet his own. His main comment here is about the Sun Time's timing. That comes with the territory - it doesn't excuse his bad behavior. If he hasn't been paying his child support as required then he is a dead beat dad and irresponsible. Not the kind of person I want to represent my congressional district.

Congressman ALL have secrets in there closet, up to the news to bring these to attention of the voters so they can make right vote .

I just took the poll asking if it's possible to take care of America if you don't take care of your children on http://www.politicalchamber.com. Obviously I don't think it is. In fact, I am appalled that a Congressman who runs under a Tea Party platform of fiscal responsibility and who loans his campaign thousands of dollars is not financially supporting his children. He calls our President a liar and some may agree with his sentiments, but at least President Obama takes care of his children.

He questions the timing of this issue being raised? Seems his ex-wife raised this issue earlier and it wouldn't be an issue if he paid what he owes for his children. And he has the tea bags to accuse Obama of passing debt on to our children when he isn't even taking care of his own.

As if we didn't all know that the money has already been spent and raising the debt ceiling just allows us to pay for what we have already consumed or contracted for.

We have charged that expensive TV set and all kinds of goodies, including wars and now the tea bag party is saying "Let's not bother to pay for any of it." And "Let's kill social security first."

Pay your child support, deadbeat! I know someone without a job who is expected to pay child support or face the consequences.

How these people managed to get elected is beyond me -- but, then, this is Illinois, the land of the bribes.

How easy it is to cast stones when you walk in other shoes. This judicial system is based on the premise that all men are innocent until proven guilty. You don't have all the facts, so don't be so quick to judgement. Being the mother of children who did not receive what was dictated by the courts, I understand the ex-wife's position. I also know that if I had still been married to my ex, with his job and the economy, we would still be living on less and have to adjust. Lighten up.

It's not a matter of innocent or guilty. Joe Walsh hasn't denied that he didn't paid his child support. He is only disputing the amount of his delinquency. I would feel differently if he hadn't loaned his campaign $35,000 at the same time he wasn't supporting his children. This guy put his ambition ahead of his own kids - yet this hypocrite is willing to run our economy over the edge. What a shame.

Look, everyone expects Joe to pay whatever his legitimate debts may be. That doesn't mean he owes everything that a divorce lawyer or someone else alleges. We should be careful about jumping to conclusions on the facts.
There are also other facts worth noting - such as the remarkable coincidence in the timing of the Chicago Sun-Times attack with recent articles by their DC bureau chief, Lynn Sweet, and her promotion of Tammy Duckworth's recently announced campaign for the 8th District (including a video attacking Joe Walsh), and her cheerleading of the way that the Democrats gerrymandered the new map of Congressional districts to favor their candidates. She characterized Dick Durbin as "a voice of reason" and a "negotiator" while accusing Walsh of being a "screamer" who does nothing and just wants media attention. No bias here. LOL.

Yawn... IF he didn't pay his child support then that's too bad, but not relevant to whether or not he is doing what he said he would do in congress. News outlets that support more big government and big spending and big taxes and big debt can see that they are losing the debate with him about those things so they are simply trying to sway voters on something else. It's low...but that's how the game is played. That said, I really doubt that any of the negative commenters on this page agree with Joe on the issues and smelling the blood in the water they are happy to join in the feeding frenzy over something that really has no bearing at all on anything to do with his job in congress.

I don't want someone in congress who is willing to push our fragile economy over a cliff because they are unwilling to compromise. I don't want someone in congress who doesn't pay their own bills, or support their own children, yet has the gall to lecture others about financial responsibility. . I don't want someone like Joe Walsh, who can't even manage his own finances to be making financial decisions for our country. If we allow that to happen we will all be in default.

Kim,
If you want to turn a deadbeat dad issue into politics then I would have to say it sounds to me that you are getting your "facts" from FOX.

Palatine Person and others - I don't want to put much faith in people who attack others through anonymous comments. If you don't like Joe Walsh, don't vote for him next time. Oh, that's right, I forgot. The Democrats in Springfield probably relieved you of that decision already by drawing you out of his district. After all, in this state, legislators get to pick their voters, rather than vice versa. That sure shows a lot of respect for the views of voters, doesn't it? That sure shows non-partisan political principles and the spirit of compromise, doesn't it?

By the way, if you don't want politicians in office who are willing to push our fragile economy off a cliff, then stop electing Democrats to Springfield and Washington DC. That should be even more intuitively obvious today, given the financial disaster in Illinois and the latest economic data, such as the downgrade of Q1 GDP growth to 0.4% and the alleged Q2 growth of 1.3% (less than previously reported for Q1). The problem isn't the debt ceiling - it's the growing government spending and debt relative to the productive economy.

Palatine Person and others

What you don't understand it that the article doesn't offer one bit of "unbiased" reporting on the subject. They are all lapdogs of the democrat party and all believe in their values of European Socialism. Let's wait and see what happens when the truth actually comes out. If you trust the Sun-Times, you are just accepting the party line of the democrat party. The real issue here is the fraudulent concept of both parties claiming they are cutting anything. This is nonsense! They are all (both democrat and republican) claiming they are "cutting" something. Neither one of the proposals out there cuts one single cent from the cost of government. It is called "base line" budgeting and it is a complete fraud. If you really want to change things, call your congressmen and senators and demand they repeal or revise the Congressional Budget act of 1974 which created the fraudulent "base line" budgeting concept which only slows the GROWTH of spending and doesn't cut anything. The next time a politician talks about "cutting," don't believe them. You are being lied to.

The fact is Joe is a deadbeat dad.

Beyond that, Tea Baggers are nuts and not enough people got off the sofa to vote against them because we really didn't believe they were for real.

We all know that you can fool some of the people all of the time but we had no idea how many people could be taken in by Tea Baggers.

First, for anyone who actually wants to listen to Walsh's side of this story, listen to his appearance on C-Span's Washington Journal today http://www.c-span.org/Events/Washington-Journal-for-Friday-July-29/10737423162-2/
Second, if you are concerned about the lack of COLA adjustments for Social Security, why not push your members of Congress to apply the same rate to the federal budget? Federal spending has climbed steadily from about $1.8 to $3.6 trillion over the last decade, and the "baseline budget" methodology they use anticipates roughly a 7 - 8% increase every year. When was the last time that you got that sort of increase? In other words, they are projecting that the current $14.3 trillion debt will grow to around $25 trillion over the next decade - and that assumes a much higher growth rate and low interest rates, which are both unrealistically optimistic at this point. Thus, revenues will probably continue to lag spending by an even larger margin - and that's a threat to everyone who relies on Social Security, Medicare, or any other federal program. What do the Democrats propose to do about that? Tax the rich? If you confiscated the entire wealth and income of all the rich people in this country, it still wouldn't solve the problem. The "cuts" that are being debated are just minor reductions in growth - such as to $23 or $24 trillion in debt rather than $25. Do you think that's a solution?

I can't conceive how any one in this day and age can read a media story and take it for face value. How bad and biased does the media have to be before people will wake up?! This is an OBVIOUS political smear tactic and the media spin has come at such a "coincidental" time! Gag.

Walsh has said he is not going to hash this out in the public. I wouldn't either. I understand that there are many facts about his child support case we don't know. So I'm not going to rush to judgement on that as he is not my dad or ex-husband, but my Representative in Congress.

I've been following him on Capitol Hill, been to town halls and have met him and his family at local events. He seems like a stand up guy to me. So for now, I'll take him at his word that he is working this issue out.

We can get sucked into media manufactured drama and continue to go down with this sinking ship. Regurgitating Pelosi talking points or sticking with the go-along-to-get-along GOP establishment will not solve anything.

Or... we can continue to send "we the people" to Washington who call it like they see it and challenge the status quo.

Joe Walsh is a critical and refreshing breath of fresh air. I am looking forward to breathing more life into Washington and Springfield come 2012!

Tea Party nonsense. We are days from total financial meltdown. If anyone makes an observation that shows their dedication to their own self interest, it is a Democratic plot. Republican state governments are making laws restricting the right to vote, interfering with the doctor patient relationship in obstetrical care, and casting our local teachers and other helping professionals as enemies of the state. We can't even consider not giving away subsidies to the richest companies in the world such as Exon or making corporate executives take commercial jets or pay for their own private jets without a tax deduction. The trickle down theory hasn't ever worked as yet. But to go against it is like buring the American flag. Meanwhile, the parts of this country that make us great is evaporating.

If anyone bothers the read the entire Sun Times article, Walsh has a history of poor financial managment in his own life and has total disregard for his kids by letting this go to court instead of paying his fair share. His character is obvious.

The idea that this was some diabolical plot hatched by the (conservative) Sun-Times is ludicrous. Anthony Weiner was no more a victim of a smear campaign than is Joe Walsh. When you text your underwear or don't pay your child support, you pay at the polls. Politicians need to behave like the good citizens they represent.

There is more than one solution to our country's debt problems; reduce spending, eliminate tax loop holes, stop subsidizing oil companies, reduce foreign aid, reduce military spending, stop fraud and abuse, fix our tax code so that hedge fund managers pay tax at a rate equal to their office staff. This is just a partial list. We may disagree on which approach to take. My own preference is a balanced approach that doesn’t put the burden just on one group – be that group rich, poor, working class, or the elderly. We are all in this together and we should all sacrifice equally.

These are complex issues that we rely on our representatives in Congress to work together to resolve. Shouldn’t we expect our Congress people to be qualified, knowledgeable and up to the task? Judging by the way Joe Walsh has managed his own finances, can anyone honestly say he is capable of making these types of sophisticated financial decisions on our behalf? Here is a man who has botched his own finances and spent money on his campaign rather than pay his child support. I wouldn’t hire him as a financial advisor and I certainly don’t want him to be managing our country's finances. No matter what his politics – truth is, when it comes to finances, he is a proven failure. It doesn’t matter if he is conservative, liberal, or something in between – he just isn’t qualified to be a Congressman.

As I said before, you are free to vote against Joe Walsh - if the Democrats have left you in his district through the new map. We'll soon see whether he runs there.
If you think the Sun-Times is conservative, you are delusional. Look at the history of their editorial endorsements in recent years.
Once again, Joe should pay whatever is actually agreed with his ex-wife, but not whatever she alleges without proof or any actual court judgment to support it. The fact that she promptly sought more money after he was elected does not automatically mean that he owes everything she is seeking. They need to sort that out - either privately or through the court process for resolving such disputes, just like anybody else. It has no bearing on his work in Congress, and there is certainly no moral equivalency here to somebody like the recently married Weiner or the nut job in the tiger suit. I'll stick to my suit, thanks.

No nead for CAPS LOCK Veritas. We can hear you. I think Joe's kids might disagree with you on the "libtard distration."

Bruce, as indiscretions go, I think failure to pay child-support ranks higher than texting your underwear.. Both pretty bad, but there's kids involved in the former.

Both certainly speak to character and a tendency toward poor decision making.

HELL HATH NO FURY AS A WOMAN SCORNED ....LET HER LOOSE TO A BIASED MEDIA AND LET THE BANTER BEGIN DURING ONE OF OUR GREAT NATIONS MOST IMPORTANT PIECES OF LEGISLATION GETS VOTED ON....... CAN YOU SAY TYPICAL AGENDA DRIVEN DISTRACTION?????

Palatine Person
Perhaps I should have read your post before I posted my last post.

No problem - I find the all caps thing a bit irritating too. :-)
I guess the philosophy is if you can't talk sense then you can at least talk nonsense loudly.

Good point - I just wish they knew how to use their computer's off switch

You know, I am about ready to stop reading this pap in Palatine Patch,obviously a shill of the Daily Herald, giving a venue to liberal, non thinkers like "Ellen". Until you all begin looking in the closets of ALL politicians we pay to represent us, don't cast any stones. To single out Joe Walsh who is representing the PAYING taxpayers in our district in Washington and whose wife decided to shaft him at this point when his mind should be elsewhere, is downright below the belt. The Sun Times should be used to wrap fish guts and nothing else. Let's see if now they give us the skinny on a Democrat Liberal. Oh, that's right. Ain't gonna happen in the Press these days

Can't we hold different political views without name calling?

Joe says he is the tip of the spear! His pointy little brain inside of his pointy little head is the tip of something. He is a dead beat dad who has had his driver’s license revoked because he did not show up for court appearances. This was done by a judge. Not by his ex wife or her attorneys.

They should have a special section on this web site just for Joe.

http://www.cookcountysheriff.org/warrants/warrants_childsupport_main.html

He owes more money than any of these folks.

My ex spent $12,000 (in 1970s money) on a lawyer to fight for custody and then turned around and deducted that $12,000 as the cost to obtain 3 income tax deductions -- even though he had already been claiming them as deductions. And, yes, of course he was a republican. How unfortunate I didn't realize that before I married him.

How many men wouldn't rather give the money to lawyers than to the care of their children???

Joe Waslh was a deadbeat dad before the voting and he still is. But the media no longer cares because it just isn't interesting anymore.

Ellen - if you paid attention to the news today, you may have noticed that the guy in the tiger suit to whom I referred was David Wu, a Democrat from Oregon who just resigned after Pelosi referred his case to the ethics committee after allegations that he (age 56) had unwanted sexual contact with the 18 year old daughter of one of his donors. After the Weiner incident, they pushed him out quickly. The tiger suit (apparently at Halloween) is not really material, except that some of his staff thought he was really weird, and bailed out some time ago, before this latest incident.

Bottom line - how's that for conduct which disgraces Congress? There are people with problems in both parties. I'll take Walsh over a Weiner or Wu anyday. As I said from the start, whatever it turns out that he may actually owe, he needs to clear that up rather than make excuses.

So many sleazy people in Washington, I'm starting to forget their names. The guy who went AWOL from Congress to be with his mistress in South America, then there's the anoymous gay sex in a public restroom, and of course solicitaion of prostitutes, and encouraging your wife to "swing," and way too much sexting. The granddaddy of them all, of course -- let's just call it "the blue dress." Bottom line -- you can spread the "sleaze" blame evenly throughout both parties. What's wrong with politicians these days? Why can't they lead decent lives like the citizens who elected them?

Keep fighting the good fight Ellen. The country deserves better than Joe Walsh.