Talib Speaks, Sources: May Drop Out
Filed Friday, May 26, 2006 at 12:00 PM
State rep candidate Talibdin El-Amin calls the charges that he is a “deadbeat dad” ridiculous. But he said that these recent allegations have taken a toll on him, his wife, and his children.
El-Amin, the 1st Ward Committeeman and husband to State Rep. Yaphett El-Amin, told PUB DEF that he has been involved in every stage of his children’s emotional, mental, physical, and educational development. He said allegations to the contrary by the mother of his two eldest children are the result of a personal vendetta.
“Never have I had to be ‘forced’ to tend to my fatherly responsibilities,” said El-Amin. He said it was him who in 1996 initiated child support payments which were taken directly from his paycheck.
El-Amin said he has records that show that he has paid more than $88,000 in child support from 1997 to May 2006. “I am on record for providing over $80,000 in child support, this in spite of being denied my right to see my children per our custody agreement.”
He said that there have been short periods when he was unable to make his payments: after surgery in 1996, after he donated a kidney to his father in 2000, and after being laid-off from his job at General Motors in 2000.
“In the fall of 2005, I initiated custody proceedings, seeking greater involvement than previously afforded,” said El-Amin. He said the court rolled his missed payments into a new monthly payment amount, which he has been current on ever since.
“More troubling than the accusation of being an absentee father, is the attack on my wife, whose love, and nurturing of the children outside of our marriage, has transcended the atypical stereotype of a detached stepmother,” El-Amin wrote in an email to PUB DEF.
“Her involvement in school events, planning of activities and trips, and overall development has often times superseded that of the biological mother, Ms. Washington,” he said.
The character of El-Amin’s “baby’s mama” was something that sources in his campaign wanted to talk a great deal about. They provided documents which they say show that she has gambled $107,054.56 at a local riverboat casino between January 2004 to May 2005.
Sources tell PUB DEF that, maybe as soon as tomorrow, El-Amin is considering dropping out of the race to prevent possible further damage to his children caused by the “dirty politics” of the past week.
They point to the fact that an employee of Sheriff Jim Murphy, who has endorsed State Rep. Amber Boykins in her campaign against Yaphett El-Amin for State Senate, coincidentally showed up at their campaign office at the same time as a KSDK cameraman and reporter Mike Owens, who is married to Ald. Lyda Krewson, who has ties to Luther Boykins, Amber’s father.
“This whole thing stinks to high heaven,” said the insider. “It would be a shame to allow this kind of personal character assassination.”
Several people told PUB DEF the real story here is that KSDK allows Mike Owens to do political stories. Imagine if Jo Mannies of the Post-Dispatch was Francis Slay’s sister. Or if Jake Wagman was Jim Shrewsbury’s son. Imagine if people working for the mayor were allowed to lobby for firms with city contracts — oh, wait.