Once in a while, it’s important to remind far-right religious conservatives that being “pro-family” does not mean you can have two of them.
Republican [tag]Jim Galley[/tag], who is running for Congress as a “pro-traditional family” candidate, was married to two women at the same time, defaulted on his child support payments and has been accused of abuse by one of his ex-wives.
The San Diego [tag]Union-Tribune[/tag] discovered the personal history in making public-records checks on Galley, who is making his fourth run for elective office in four years. These checks are part of the newspaper’s election reporting process.
Galley married his second wife, Beth, in 1982 when, unbeknownst to her, he was still married to his first wife, Terry. Beth and Galley divorced in 1990 after she sought a restraining order alleging abuse. The child support was owed to his first wife.
Galley claims the polygamy was an accident, the child support default was short-term (a few months), and the abuse allegation was made only to get him out of the house.
But wait, there’s more. Galley also claims to have been drafted by the [tag]Navy[/tag] during the [tag]Vietnam[/tag] War and “serviced my time.” The [tag]San Diego[/tag] Union-Tribune discovered through a FOIA request, however, that Galley started his Navy service almost a year after the draft ended and that he was discharged less than six weeks later, while in “recruit training.” Oops.
The truth is, Galley has never been considered a serious challenger. He was going to lose and these revelations will only help seal the deal. That said, it’s also worth noting that former Rep. [tag]Brian Bilbray[/tag] (R), who hopes to replace Duke Cunningham in a special election on Tuesday, threw his support behind Galley’s campaign. Let’s hope Bilbray doesn’t list “good judge of character” among his best qualities.