Court records say Democrat Congressional candidate abused wife
By MajorityAP Posted in Congress — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Illinois millionaire Bill Foster said to be holding ex-wife “hostage”
Portraying a warm and fuzzy family image is nothing new for politicians seeking to curry favor with voters. But Illinois Democrat Bill Foster, seeking election to Congress in the district once held by former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, has taken things a step further – boasting on his campaign website of the amicable relationship he enjoys with his ex-wife, who divorced him in 1996.
“Bill and Ann are both very proud of remaining on good terms and making things as easy as possible for their kids,” Foster wrote on his candidate biography.
But according to Illinois court records obtained by the Majority Accountability Project (www.majorityap.com), the Foster’s were far from being “on good terms” during their testy divorce proceedings.
In fact, in a motion filed in Circuit Court in Kane County, his then-wife Ann claimed, under oath, that Foster “pushed, shoved and caused physical abuse and emotional harm…putting her in fear for herself (and the couple’s) minor children.” Ann Foster asked the court to remove her husband from the home they shared, and that the court “issue a temporary restraining order against (Bill Foster) from calling, harassing or touching (Ann Foster).”
Read on . . .
Equally troubling is Foster’s claim that “Bill and Ann agreed to live within a few blocks of each other in Batavia.” Court records indicate Ann Foster’s decision to live near her soon-to-be ex-husband was not voluntary.
A provision of the couple’s divorce settlement stipulated that if Ann Foster moved outside of the Batavia School district prior to their daughter’s eighteenth birthday, “wife shall pay to husband the sum of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000).” Circuit Court Judge Keith Brown, who presided over the couple’s divorce, seemed stunned.
“I have never seen a provision as this, such as $50,000 payment if someone moves out of the school district,” he said in a transcript obtained by majorityap.com. “I’m not sure if that’s – let’s say when that day comes, the enforceability of that provision would be an issue.”
The judge said of Bill Foster that “it almost sounds, on the initial surface, as if you are holding someone hostage to stay within any school district, which is not in the law of the State of Illinois.”
There is some evidence the Foster's once acrimonious relationship has improved.
Ann Foster has since moved from the Batavia School district, and now draws a paycheck from her ex-husband. According to Foster’s campaign website, she “works as a software engineer for Bill's company in Wisconsin.”
Majorityap.com refuted an earlier claim Foster made, when he wrote in a campaign mailing that he served on the staff of U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy, D-PA. Following that report, Foster and Murphy repeatedly changed their stories on what role, if any, Foster played in Murphy’s Congressional office.
Foster was a major contributor to Murphy, raising the specter of possible ethics violations by the Pennsylvania freshman.
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Don't forget that Ryan was forced out of the race before he had even won the nomination. That's how we got stuck with Alan Keyes.
As I remember the story, Jack Ryan had won the nomination. That's why the party leaders in IL were able to invite Alan Keyes to move from MD and take the nomination. Keyes did not have to compete for it. Ryan resigned from the race after the Chicago Tribune succeeded in getting a judge to unseal the Ryan divorce records over the strenuous objections of both Jack Ryan and his ex-wife Jeri Ryan. The GOP in IL was annoyed at Ryan (to say the least) because he had reportedly told them privately that there was nothing really bad in the records and the state establishment gave him their support. The records turned out to be quite embarrassing.
The IL GOP has got SERIOUS &#@&#$ problems. For once they get an attractive, solid candidate to run for senate and they sabotage the guy? Then they run twits like Judy Barr Topinka. Whomever is running the IL GOP is a $#(^#$(% moron. The sad thing is, the GOP should control that state, aside from Chicago. Granted, I know Chicago is a huge part of the population, but Illinois is GOP territory outside of the city of Chicago and if there was a halfway competent chairman running the state party, we would have those seats.
“.....women and minorities hardest hit”
Ryan was forced to drop out of the race after he had won the Republican nomination when the Chicago Tribune and an Illinois television station (an ABC affiliate I think) sued to have his divorce and child custody hearing records opened - against both his and his ex-wife's wishes.
I personally thought that his dropping out after that was a mistake, but Topinka (who is one of the worst GOP State Chairs in history) and her people demanded it and he decided to fold it up. My response would have been to hold a press conference with Jeri Ryan by my side and pound on those so-called news outlets until I'm hoarse.
Yeah, "Jack!" won the nomination handily before departing the race. I just wish we had someone better than Oberweis. The guy makes my skin crawl. I've had nothing but bad experiences with him. The guy couldn't care less about the GOP or conservatism. This is just an ego stroke.
The Democrat bosses clearly didn't want to be bothered to vet their boy, or else they would have known his story was riddled with lies and misrepresentations that would sink him if the truth ever came out. His "amicable divorce" story isn't the only thing about Foster that doesn't check out. He's no "businessman," either. He's such a fraud the Dems should be indicted just for running him.
I'm starting to think Ryan, Hull, and Foster are all just one more example of Combine thinking at work. Party bosses on both sides foist fatally flawed candidates on their grassroots, time and time again, either because they think nobody will bother to check these clowns out, or because they think we've got nowhere else to go, so they'll get away with it and have another good ol' boy in office who they own, primed and ready to "do business."
I'm getting to the point where I'm just as sick about the corrupt hacks running my party as I am disgusted by their partners-in-crime in the other one.
This sounds eerily familiar to what the Illinois Dems and the media did to Jack Ryan. I don't really approve of this kind of politics, but what goes around comes around!!
“.....women and minorities hardest hit”