PARENT'S RIGHTS NOW!

ILLINOIS CONGRESSMAN MAY OWE $117K IN PAST DUE CHILD SUPPORT

The following article was filed by the Associated Press.

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh, the tea party-backed Republican who squeaked into office last year by vowing to bring fiscal responsibility to Washington and who has been one of President Barack Obama's most outspoken critics during the standoff over the debt ceiling, is being sued for more than $100,000 in unpaid child support, a newspaper reported.The freshman congressman's ex-wife, Laura Walsh, filed the claim against him in December as part of their divorce case, saying he owed $117,437 to her and their three children, the Chicago Sun-Times reported in a story published Wednesday. She contends that Walsh loaned his own campaign $35,000 and took international vacations but said he couldn't afford child support payments because he was between jobs or out of work. "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 the motion. "Joe has paid himself back at least $14,200 for the loans he gave himself."

Walsh, whose campaign was marked by allegations of financial mismanagement, said he thought he and his ex-wife were coming to an agreement on the money owed, according to a February court filing. His attorney, R. Steven Polachek, denied that the congressman owed $117,437 in back child support and interest and said the amount was much less.

"I dispute that he owes the child support that she's claiming or anywhere near that amount," Polachek said. "Joe Walsh hasn't been a big-time wage-earner politician until recently — he's had no more problems with child support than any other average guy."

Joe and Laura Walsh were married for 15 years when she filed for divorce in 2002. He has since remarried.

A phone message left Thursday at Walsh's congressional office wasn't immediately returned, and his spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Walsh, 49, unexpectedly captured his northeastern Illinois district last year by a slim margin, campaigning on a promise to reign in government spending and promoting his conservative values, among other things. He has recently gained notoriety for speaking out against the president and accusing him of lying about the impact of not raising the national debt ceiling.

"President Obama, quit lying," he said in a video posted online this month. In it he also asks Obama, "Have you no shame, sir?

"Walsh said there is "plenty of money" to pay debt and cover Social Security even if the limit isn't raised, and that Obama won't get congressional approval to increase the $14.3 trillion debt limit unless the Democratic president backs a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, which Obama opposes. Obama says the country will default if Congress doesn't raise the ceiling by Aug. 2.

The congressman's alleged financial problems made headlines while he was campaigning last year, when at least one staffer claimed he would "spend, spend, spend uncontrollably."

His campaign manager quit and sued for $20,000 in nonpayment, and two other staffers who quit accused him of not properly disclosing a 2008 home foreclosure and traffic citations to the public, taking their grievances public. Walsh also bounced checks, including one to a Republican fundraiser.

A Walsh spokesman at the time called it a smear campaign by disgruntled workers and said the congressman had learned from his financial struggles, including the foreclosure.
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Information from: Chicago Sun-Times, http://www.suntimes.com/index

SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE LACK OF AN AUTOMATED CHILD SUPPORT TRACKING SYSTEM

In a nutshell, South Carolina has been fined over $80 Million for failure to install computerized child support collection and tracking systems in compliance with federal law.

This is one of our favorite topics. So not only have we written dozens of letters and e-mails to the folks who have the power to fix the problem, but we write about the problem extensively on this Blog. For example, you may want to read SOUTH CAROLINA DSS FINES MOUNT, S.C. FINE: $82,858,661 AND COUNTING, UNDERSTANDING THE CUMULATIVE NATIONAL CHILD SUPPORT DEBT, MAJOR FEDERAL FUNDING AT RISK IN SOUTH CAROLINA, LINKS TO THE COMPLETE RESPONSES OF SC DSS TO BUDGET PROVISOS REGARDING COMPUTERIZED CHILD SUPPORT TRACKING AND COLLECTION SYSTEM, and HOW DO SEVENTY THOUSAND PEOPLE MANAGE TO SECRET THEMSELVES IN A STATE THE SIZE OF SOUTH CAROLINA?

The bottom line is that, because (apparent) lifetime appointee Larry McKeown will not, or can not, perform his (well-paid) job and the General Assembly has ignored funded federal mandates, South Carolina custodial parents and guardians are owed over $1.5 Billion in back child support and approximately 70,000 South Carolina parents are skirting their legal support obligations and passing them on to the taxpayers of the entire United States.

Interestingly, though former South Carolina AG Henry McMaster issued an Opinion that found that South Carolina laws making nonsupport of children a crime are lawful, to our knowledge his office never prosecuted a single non-support case. Additionally, when faced with the prospect of a $28 Million DSS budget deficit, rather than taking steps to increase child support collections so that custodial parents could get off of "welfare," the General Assembly chose to cut support to those parents.

We read the post “Deadbeat” Tabs Adding Up and would like to comment on it.

For the readers' information, most of the current South Carolina child support arrearage accrued before the recession hit. And the reason that it accrued has less to do with the current high unemployment rate in South Carolina than it does with the mismanagement at DSS. Simply stated, if the folks at DSS had been doing their jobs, South Carolina would not have been fined $72,000,000 by the federal government with another $20,000,000 in fines expected to come. Nor would there be an arrearage in excess of $1,200,000,000. Nor would there be 70,000 South Carolinians dodging their child support obligations.

It would take us hours to explain the severity of the Mess at the South Carolina DSS, but those who want a little taste of the magnitude of the problems and their causes might want to read "DEADBEAT PARENTS" TARGETED IN SOUTH CAROLINA, CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE CAMPBELL MAY HAVE MISSED CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS, LINKS TO THE COMPLETE RESPONSES OF SC DSS TO BUDGET PROVISOS REGARDING COMPUTERIZED CHILD SUPPORT TRACKING AND COLLECTION SYSTEM, SOUTH CAROLINA CHILD (NON) SUPPORT--A CONTINUING PROBLEM, and THE MESS AT SC DSS--HOW THEY GOT THERE AND SOME THINGS TO DO ABOUT IT.

TABLE 6: CASES WITH ARREARS DUE AND CASES PAYING TOWARDS ARREARS, FY 2008

Members of the South Carolina General Assembly and the Director of the South Carolina CSED may want to review "Table 6: Cases With Arrears Due And Cases Paying Towards Arrears, FY 2008." This official federal government document indicates that over 62,000 South Carolinians are making no payments towards their child support arrears. Bad as this appears, it should be kept in mind that these figures only include active DSS cases and that they were compiled prior to the onset of the recession. Our guess is that there are currently another 20,000 to 30,000 non-custodial parents who are making no payments toward their child support arrears in South Carolina. And this does not include the private cases that are not handled by DSS.

Readers should keep in mind both that most custodial parents are women and that MANY SOUTH CAROLINA "DEADBEATS" ARE JUST "DEAD." So nobody may ever get money from some fathers. Additionally, as The Wall Street Journal reports, the recession may be hitting men harder than women. These combined facts should stimulate South Carolina to make more vigorous efforts to "get 'em while they're hot." The longer South Carolina waits to implement its computerized child support tracking and collection system and to require new hire reporting, the more difficulty it will have in collecting past due child support on behalf of some of its most needy and vulnerable citizens.

Will Folks, former spokesman for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, writes in "Campbell Child Support Questioned":

From our perspective, the fact that Mr. Campbell may have gotten behind in his child support or may have missed a payment does not make him a "Deadbeat." As we have noted before, in these difficult economic times, many otherwise responsible folks are finding it difficult to meet their child support obligations. We would be concerned, however, if Mr. Campbell were to publicly demonstrate his ignorance of the Welfare Reform Act as did South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer. And, we would be more concerned if we were to learn that Mr. Campbell's businesses are not complying with the federal new hire reporting law and are helping 70,000 South Carolina "Deadbeats" avoid their responsibilities to their children.

In "Man mistakenly freed from prison surrenders", The Post and Courier reports:

We are pleased to learn that Mr. Rigby surrendered himself and that he is now in custody. One has to wonder, though, how he managed to remain hidden for over a year. Maybe he was staying with the 70,000 people who have been dodging child support in South Carolina.

Edwards Admits Paternity

The Associated Press has reported "Edwards admits he fathered videographer's child" and has agreed to pay child support. According to the article, "In the statement Edwards released Thursday, he said, 'I will do everything in my power to provide her (Frances) with the love and support she deserves...I have been providing financial support for Quinn and have reached an agreement with her mother to continue providing support in the future. "

There has been no word yet on the terms of the financial settlement.

Judge Screenings on Hold

According to "Judge screenings on hold," "One of South Carolina’s top lawmakers said the state will postpone screening of judge candidates until the state Supreme Court settles legal questions about the process." Consequently, judicial elections will also be postponed.

This whole process may be confusing to most folks. But, South Carolina State Senator Nathan Ballentine illuminates the process and provides some useful links at his Blog. Still, in any event, this case is very important, which is why the Supreme Court of South Carolina has granted an expedited hearing.

CNN reports that "Bristol Palin demands child support." While some folks appear to be upset about this development, we are neither surprised nor outraged. If Ms. Palin's Pleadings are to be believed, Levi Johnston--the "sperm donor" baby daddy--has generated a pretty good income from his relationship with the Palin family. So there is no reason why he should not provide for his child.

We do not know for certain, though we have a pretty good idea.

We do know for certain that The Post and Courier reported in 2005 "South Carolina parents owe more than $700 million in back child-support payments, with more than 70,000 people in the state dodging payments each year."

We also know for certain that the $700 Million arrearage figure reported three years ago has now ballooned to over $1.2 Billion, which leads us to believe that there are now substantially more than "70,000 people in the state dodging payments each year."

And we are pretty confident that the State's failure to either create a centralized computer child support tracking and enforcement system or to comply with 42 USC Sec. 653a has allowed people not only to hide in the open, but has also allowed them to avoid paying child support, to cheat on their income taxes, to successfully file false worker's compensation claims, and to illegally receive unemployment benefits. Still, those who want to know the definitive answer to the question of how seventy thousand people can secret themselves in a State the size of South Carolina--including those Freshmen Legislators who were recently demanding answers-- should contact Larry McKeown at either 1-800-768-5858 or Larry.McKeown@dss.sc.gov and pose the question to him. He gets paid $100,000 per year to know the answer to this and related questions. It is time that he earns his pay.

Click Table 6: CASES WITH ARREARS DUE AND CASES PAYING TOWARD ARREARS, FY 2007 to see how your State compares with other States.