Well, it looks like Joe Walsh, the deadbeat dad/Tea Party hero who spends a lot of time on Fox News acting like a tough guy, got a little comeuppance today in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, according to the Chicago Sun-Times:
A judge in Chicago issued a preliminary ruling Wednesday against U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) in the Tea Party favorite’s child-support dispute with his ex-wife, ordering Walsh to explain why he appears to be $100,000 behind on his child-support payments.
As the Chicago Tribune explained a little more clearly in its lede:
A Cook County judge ruled today that U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh must now prove that he made nearly $100,000 in past child support payments to his ex-wife, Laura, in the pair’s ongoing legal battle over child support for their three children.
“That’s up to him to prove that now,” said Laura Walsh’s attorney, Jack Coladarci. “He’s got to show that he made all those payments.”
And as a comical side note, Walsh's attorney was incredulous after the judge asked why the congressman wasn't in court:
Walsh’s new attorney, Janet Boyle, asked Vega “for what purpose” he wanted the congressman in court.
Vega gave her a puzzled look.
To which Boyle responded: “Mr. Walsh is a U.S. congressman.”
“Well, he’s no different than anyone else,” the judge said.
It must take an arrogant asshole to defend an arrogant asshole. Good for the judge.
Any guess as to whether or not Walsh made the payments?
From later in the Sun-Times story:
Laura Walsh said her husband started making half-payments years ago and then making no payments at all, claiming he had no money.
Last year, when she saw he had made a $35,000 contribution to his own congressional campaign, Laura Walsh said she became suspicious about his “no money” claims and had her attorney file the motion that Judge Vega granted on Wednesday.
It's all on Joe Walsh now. So, Joe, are you just another lying, deadbeat dad, or can you prove you paid your child support for all these years?
As his ex-wife noted:
“You know, it’s child support. He either paid it or he didn’t.”
An bets on the answer to that one?