newsinkansas | U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s struggle to pay off a loan for a car wash business hasn’t gone away.
On Tuesday, the Jackson County court clerk issued a wage
garnishment order against Cleaver’s employer — the U.S. House — on
behalf of Bank of America. The order instructs the House to withhold
part of Cleaver’s salary to help repay more than $1.3 million he and his
wife now owe the bank.
It’s the second time the bank has asked the court to garnish
Cleaver’s wages for the debt, first incurred more than a decade ago. The
bank’s first garnishment was processed in July.
Garnishment is a relatively common practice in debt cases, experts
say. In a garnishment, a creditor asks a court to collect money from a
third party to satisfy claims against a debtor.
“A garnishment is one of several devices available to a party that
has a judgment, to collect that judgment,” said Kansas City lawyer F.
Coulter deVries.
But garnishing the wages of a sitting congressman appears to be rare.
In 2012, part of the congressional wages of then-congressman Joe
Walsh were withheld to satisfy claims of back child support, according
to the Chicago Sun-Times. The newspaper also quoted a House spokesman as
saying child support payments had been withheld “over the years” from
other members’ checks, but no specifics were provided.
It’s not publicly known how often congressional wages have been garnished for a loan debt.
Payroll services for House members are provided by the Office of the
Chief Administrative Officer. A spokeswoman for the office declined to
comment on the garnishment of Cleaver’s wages or the general history of
garnishments in the House.
The press office of the House Committee on Administration also declined to comment.
Cleaver’s office issued a statement: “As the congressman and Mrs.
Cleaver have repeatedly said, for almost two years now, they are working
with Bank of America to meet their financial obligations, in a broad
spectrum of ways, and that hasn’t changed.”
Cleaver, a Democrat, is a candidate for re-election to Missouri’s 5th District House seat this year.
He earns $174,000 a year as a congressman. In his last financial
disclosure, Cleaver also claimed annual income of $21,976 from a pension
agreement with the city of Kansas City and $9,664 from the Missouri
Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.
The disclosure covers 2012, so it doesn’t include Cleaver’s debt
related to the car wash. His net worth that year, according to the
Center for Responsive Politics, was between $348,012 and $1,019,999.
A spokesman for Bank of America also declined to comment on the garnishment request, as did the bank’s Kansas City lawyer.
Tuesday’s orders also involved the employer of Dianne Cleaver, the
congressman’s spouse. She is also considered liable for the $1.3 million
debt. She works for Urban Neighborhood Initiative Inc.
The amount of money potentially withheld from Cleaver’s House
paycheck to satisfy the garnishment isn’t clear. In general, federal law
limits the amount that can be garnished to 25 percent of a debtor’s net
wages or salary.
