Ephraim Cruz and His Son, Ethan… (and the “Paternity Suit”)

There has been some news coverage regarding State Legislative candidate for LD 29, Ephraim Cruz, and the legal determination of paternity and financial support for his now 7 year old son, Ethan. In fact, people who know nothing else about the race, and don’t really follow politics, have heard of Cruz’s "paternity suit".

It’s a juicy topic: sex sells. In a type of race that is normally rather wonky and unfortunately low-profile, Cruz’s personal life has become a salient and central issue in his campaign – much to his chagrin. Because people rightly want to know how his personal life reflects on his suitability as a public official, Cruz agreed to a no-holds-barred interview with Blog For Arizona. His campaign had no forewarning of what I would ask, and no topics were out-of-bounds, as you will hear in the podcast.

What I feel the interview shows are a few critical facts:

1) Paternity of Ethan was determined by summary judgment, never went to trial, and was never contested by Cruz. The mother was represented by the State, which is standard practice, but both parties also have the right to be represented by private counsel: neither party was.

2) Ethan was part of Cruz’s life for the first years of his life, and Cruz says he wants nothing more than to be a father to his son again.

3) The "paternity" suit’s purpose was to provide financial support for Ethan and to formalize his parent’s amicable agreements so that Cruz’s employer can and would garnish Cruz’s wages to satisfy the obligation. Even though Cruz has struggled financially as a result of his odyssey
as a federal whistle-blower, he has maintained his financial commitment
to his son.

Of course, the magic bullet in a case like this in terms of PR would be the mother agreeing to an interview and telling everyone that the Cruz has met his obligations. But Cruz is not in touch with the mother, by her choice. The support payments go through the state clearinghouse and Cruz does not know where the mother is, and respects her desire for privacy: he wouldn’t tell her name, and though I know it from court records, I will respect his example and not name her here.

I have to say that some other media have done a shallow and exploitative job of dealing with this issue. Surely, the personal life of a candidate can illuminate the job he or she would do in office, but this suit was dealt with so ham-fistedly and with so little useful context, that to call it a hatchet-job would be generous.

There is a frame of reference that the average person brings to the notion of a "paternity suit": a scumbag trying to escape his responsibility to his child, and his child’s mother. I am satisfied that this automatic association is far from appropriate in this case. Even I, a seat-of-the-pants blogger with no journalistic training, just making it up as I go, understand the possibility that an irresponsible handling of such intimate aspects of a candidate’s life can irreparably and unfairly harm a person’s reputation.

Without editing, here’s my conversation with Cruz:

Download cruzld29.mp3