Tea Party congressman takes flak from high school students

Congressman Joe Walsh fielded some tough questions Tuesday morning from a high school government class in Mundelein, Ill. with students asking why he plans to boycott a jobs speech by President Barack Obama and how he’s handling his ex-wife’s lawsuit alleging he owes child support.

The Tea Party-backed freshman from McHenry, Ill. told students in the advanced placement class that he plans to read the president’s speech, scheduled Thursday night, but not attend the joint session of Congress. Calling together a joint session should be reserved for “pretty big deals,”; and he doesn’t believe Obama’s proposals meet that threshold, he said.

“I just don’t want to be used, politically,” Walsh said.

When asked about the money he allegedly owes in child support, Walsh responded the same way he has in other public venues:

“It makes me sad that my ex-wife did what she did,” he said. “I am going to fight it because it just isn’t true. … I am going to fight it privately and legally because anything I say can be held against me.”

His ex-wife, Laura Walsh, is seeking $117,437 in unpaid child support and interest in a case filed in Cook County Circuit Court. The couple has three children and divorced in 2004.

Walsh said that public officials have no private life and that people can say whatever they want about a politician.

“Somehow in this country we need to get to a point where we don’t care about this personal stuff because the best Democrats and best Republicans aren’t running for office,” he said.

Walsh told students that Washington lawmakers should cut spending on federal health care programs such as Medicare, paying for their use only as a “safety net.”

“We have got to begin to pay for and be more responsible for our own health care costs,” he said.

When asked about the Tea Party and its beliefs, Walsh first turned the question back to students, asking them what they think when they hear the term “Tea Party.” Students’ responses included: “Republicans,” “reducing taxes” and “Fox News.”

Self-proclaimed liberal Samuel Cruz, 16, described the Tea Party as “a small group of people who are insane and out of touch with reality.”

Walsh said that the Tea Party movement consists of people who are angry and frustrated over big government and are misunderstood by the media and other political parties.

“I don’t want this to happen. But if the Republican party doesn’t really get serious about government spending, I think you will see a third party, a fourth party, a fifth party, who knows. Right now they are not a party, just a big group of people.

“We’re not all insane.”

lblack@tribune.com