(Updated 4 p.m.) A City Hall-supported candidate seeking to unseat a veteran Edgewood alderwoman has an ongoing court case in New Jersey for failing to pay $20,000 to the mothers of his two children in two different states.
According to court records and an interview with the candidate, Marcus Paca has for years been behind in child support payments for his two kids: a now‑3 year-old son whose mother lives in New Jersey; and a now-10-year-old daughter in Virginia.
Paca, who’s 31, was arrested in New Jersey last fall for failing to pay child support, and had his driver’s license revoked.
The revelations add heat to what’s already shaping up as the most contested and watched Democratic Party primary race in town this campaign season, in Ward 24. Paca (pictured) launched a primary challenge to 11-term incumbent Alderwoman Liz McCormack. McCormack is considered an unreliable vote for the city administration; Mayor John DeStefano and party leaders are backing Paca.
“His ass is in trouble,” Hank Campbell, one of two 24th Ward Democratic Party co-chairmen, said Monday. The race has divided the ward’s Democrats; Campbell has stayed neutral.
Paca said Sunday night that he recently lowered the back debt he owes from around $24,000 to around $21,000. He said he’s working hard to pay it off and do right by his children while wrestling with repeated downsizings.
“This is a relevant issue for the campaign. Even though it’s very personal for me, I’m glad it’s being discussed. People have a right to know about their public officials,” Paca said during a candid interview in his Maple Street kitchen.
“I have nothing to be ashamed of. There are plenty of average Americans going through this every day. People who care about their kids and pay their child support should be commended and not be demonized for a situation that was out of their control.”
Paca said his troubles started in 2001, when he learned he had a daughter.
“I did not know of her existence,” he said. “When [her mother] finally called me and said, ‘Marcus, you have a daughter,’ she was already 3 years old. They put me in arrears for thousands of dollars on day one. It’s been hard to catch up.”
He was slowly paying back the amounts under a Somerville, N.J., court order until two months ago. Virginia’s Department of Social Services was receiving $271.38 out of his paycheck every two weeks to pay child support for his daughter living in that state. Another $188 was paid to the mother of his 3 year-old son living in New Jersey.
The payments stopped in late March, at which time he still reportedly owed $22,138 in Virginia. He owed close to $2,000 in back payments to his son’s mother in New Jersey.
His payments had previously been higher. They were lowered in February.
In a Sept. 26, 2008, letter, Paca appealed to Somerset Superior Court Judge Thomas H. Dilts to lower the payments.
“The facts of my situation are serious,” he wrote. He had just started a new $40,000 job with a company called One Communications. That came out to “a little over $1,500 every two weeks, gross, probably a little over $1100, net.”
Meanwhile, his two court-ordered biweekly child support payments totaled $911.
“I can maintain very little stability with these numbers,” Paca wrote. “I need your help to get my case heard in Virginia concerning a reduction. In court papers filed this summer I requested a reduction because of my unemployment situation; as well as a third request since January 2006, requesting relieve [sic] because of the birth of my son…
“Because of my failure to get a reduction over the past 3 years, my arrears have ballooned and I sometimes feel I will never achieve the opportunity to repay my debt and get back on financial track. On the same token, I feel my requests have gone on [deaf] ears…
“I have been arrested and humiliated and although I take my fatherly responsibilities seriously, I am still subject to certain abuses that can be alleviated. I don’t want to be in a situation of proverbial helplessness. I want to spread around my earnings reasonably and have solid relationships with my children.”
Sunday night, Paca said downsizing in the telecommunications industry hurt his efforts to keep up with payments.
He had a $100,000-plus a year job with a telecom company, he said. Then he was downsized.
He said he was recently laid off from his $40,000-a-year job as an account executive with One Communications after another round of downsizing. The company continues to give him work as a consultant, he said, but that means there’s no regular biweekly paycheck to garnish. He was able recently to lower his back debt to the mother in Virginia from the $22,138 owed in March to around $19,000, he said; and to lower the New Jersey debt to around $1,800.
Who Was Vetting?
One of the two 24th Ward Democratic Committee co-chairmen, Eliezer Greer, said he didn’t want to comment on any “allegations” about the personal life of an aldermanic candidate.
Greer, who’s backing Liz McCormack in the race, said the episode does raise questions about the party leaders who threw their support early behind Paca’s candidacy. He questioned “the vetting process of a machine-made candidate. Is the machine still running?”
Ward Co-Chair Campbell said he remains neutral.
“I’m not supporting Paca. I don’t even know the young man. I can’t go to lunch without him running after me” seeking support, Campbell said.
However, Paca has run a “serious” race, drawing support in the neighborhood, Campbell noted. That means he has a responsibility to let members of the ward committee decide whom the party supports for alderman in the primary, he argued.
“It’s my job to carry the message downtown and say, ‘This is what the ward committee wants,’” Campbell said. “It’s not about me. It’s about the ward committee.”
Incumbent Liz McCormack repeatedly deflected questions about Paca’s personal troubles.
“I’m focusing on my campaign. I’m excited with the support I’m getting. That’s were all my energy is going,” she said.
Asked if she considers Paca’s child-support record relevant to the campaign, McCormack replied, “I don’t know what to say.”
Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman Susie Voigt called Paca “a warm and responsible young man” who “obviously has made some mistakes.”
“I hope and expect he will make every effort to meet his responsibilities to his familiy,” she said. “I think Marcus has a lot to offer New Haven. I look forward to his contining activity in our community.”