For two men who pound their chests as fiscal conservatives, Wisconsin Reps. Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble certainly can blow through hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money in no time flat. And, for seemingly no return.
A new review of the Statement of Disbursements for 2011, show Duffy, who’s in just his first-term and once stated he was “struggling” to make ends meet on his $174,000 per year congressional salary, led the U.S. House in spending in not one, but four categories. His out-of-control spending with the taxpayers’ checkbook included wasting more than $225,000 on unsolicited and unwanted mass mailings. Duffy was also the top spender in the equipment, travel and “other services” categories.
In all, Duffy spent more than $1 million of taxpayer money in just his first year.
Ribble was equally as careless in waste. He topped two categories for overspending — he spent more than $135,000 on printing services and almost $120,000 on rent, communications and utilities, which is lumped into one category.
“”Struggling” Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble have once again shown how out-of-touch they are with their constituents in Wisconsin. While working families here are making difficult choices and fighting to keep food on their table, these two are spending hundreds of thousands on meritless printings and mailings that do little more than jockey them into position for their next campaign,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate. “The same working families Duffy and Ribble so quickly disregard will remember this blatant waste by replacing them at the polls next election.”
Read a news report on Duffy and Ribble’s out-of-control spending here.
