Updated with Duffy’s response below.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has found a new line of attack on the fiscal life of Rep. Sean Duffy’s (R-WI), months after jibes over his claim that he was struggling to live on his $174,000/year congressional salary began to burn out.
Democrats are fond of taking on Duffy over money, and after his latest financial disclosure form was released to the press, they think they’ve found their next soft spot to poke.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel set the stage in its report on the freshman Republican’s financials. (As background, before running for Congress, Duffy was a District Attorney in a Wisconsin county. He left the post in June, 2010.)
Duffy had no explanation as to why his salary as Ashland County district attorney showed an uptick in his final weeks on the job.
Last year, he reported earning $34,000 during his first 4 1/2 months on the job in 2010. That works out to about $1,800 a week.
In his most recent filing, he said he earned $46,312 as the DA, a post he left on June 25. That means he pulled down $12,312 in his final six weeks on the job, a rate of more than $2,000 a week.
Duffy was frequently criticized by his former opponent and one of his assistant district attorneys for spending more time on the campaign trail than at work.
Democrats have already used Duffy’s time as D.A. to attack him, firing off a TV ad last year that accused him of slacking off on the job.
Now they think they can return to his D.A. tenure again thanks to the “mysterious” raise in Duffy’s final weeks on the job.
“Giving yourself a raise when even you have acknowledged you were more focused on your political fortunes, and not serving the people of Ashland County, is the height of hypocrisy,” Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Mike Tate wrote in a letter to Duffy obtained by TPM. “You can begin to address this error by reimbursing Ashland County in the amount of the raise you gave yourself.”
Late Update:
Team Duffy writes in to say there was no increase in pay while Duffy was D.A.
“The difference in salary reflects the payroll system for state employees,” Duffy spokesperson Daniel Son told TPM. “There is a lag between the pay periods and the pay day. The financial disclosure did not reflect the lag in payment.”
