Viral Video: Representative Duffy forced to live on 'just' $174,000 per year

by Steve Ragan - Mar 31 2011, 01:49

A U.S. Representative and the Polk County, Wisconsin, Republican Party, are in hot water after they tried to censor a video of Sean Duffy (R-WI) explaining to constituents how he struggles to pay his bills. This admission came just after Duffy had explained that the Congressional salary for his first year in office will come to $174,000 USD.

The sad part is, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP at opensecrets.org), Duffy is one of the poorer people in Congress. More pointedly, some 60 percent of Senate freshman and more than 40 percent of House freshmen are millionaires, a recent CRP study found.

"Even though millions of Americans continue to struggle financially, most of the nation's newest congressional representatives are a world away from such constituents' financial realities," said Sheila Krumholz, the Center's executive director.

So maybe Duffy is struggling, but many who have seen his remarks disagree. Some of the comments online point out that, even with a wife and six children, he is doing just fine. In the video shown later in this article, which we will discuss further, you can hear one of Rep. Duffy’s constituents comment that his freshman salary was "three times what I make...".

Unfortunately, opensecrets.org only has the data for 2009 when it comes to Rep. Duffy’s financials. Income-wise, along with his wife, Duffy pulled in $154,500 USD in 2009. That's less than what he is making now, sure, but still far more than the majority of the workers across the nation today. How many families are there in the U.S. facing the same situation, only they have to support eight people with far less?

Moreover, Duffy's annual disclosure report lists five main liabilities with a total value of between $430,005 and $950,000 USD. While having nearly a million dollars in liabilities is a nightmare, the pressure or two mortgages, a student loan, and $50,000 USD in credit debt is bound to take its toll on anyone. Still, Rep. Duffy’s main house is valued at upwards of $247,000 USD and his vacation spot is listed at $229,000 USD. That’s half his debt right there.

Either way, while Duffy is in a far better financial position than... well, all of us... he is still one of the poorest people on Capitol Hill. That should be enough to anger any voter.

All day long, we see news reports focusing on growing debt and financial troubles in the world, but Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who's also a freshman, has an average estimated wealth of $94.87 million USD. Meanwhile, Diane Lynn Black (R-Tenn.) is said to be worth $49.4 million USD. Plus both of them will draw that golden salary of $174,000 USD in their freshman year on top of what they are worth.

Given that, the CRP report notes that the full freshman class of the 112th Congress boasts an estimated wealth of $533.1 million USD. That’s a minimum net worth of about $221 million USD and a maximum net worth of about $845.2 million USD.

"Some are Democrats, some are Republicans, many are Tea Party conservatives while others are unabashedly liberal," said Dan Auble, who manages the Center’s personal financial disclosure database. "What unites these freshmen is that, on balance, they’re rich."

This is why Rep. Duffy’s comments struck a nerve, and why the Polk County GOP is doing all it can to have the accompanying video pulled offline. Instead, its actions have actually had the opposite effect, with more people now having watched Duffy give his public remarks than might have witnessed them otherwise.

Case in point, I live in Indiana and I’d never even heard of Rep. Duffy before this video hit my inbox. I follow politics, but not extensively, so his name was new to me. Yet, after watching his remarks, I can see why some voters are upset.

I will say this, though: Duffy was candid and honest when answering questions during the town hall meeting earlier this month. He didn’t get to vote for his salary, and he didn’t hide from the amount he makes. I respect that. Watching the other videos from the same session, I can honestly say it looks as if his heart is in the right place.

However, problems rear up when he says things like: “I can guarantee you, or most of you, I guarantee that I have more debt than all of you. With six kids, I still pay off my student loans. I still pay my mortgage... Would it be easier for me if I get more paychecks? Maybe, but at this point I'm not living high on the hog.”

With a large family, yes, he will need the space. Yet, perhaps having a vacation home is an unnecessary expense? I can’t speak for him, but if I was that strained, I would sell the extra property and pay off some of my loans.

Still, not a person in the room where Duffy made those remarks will be earning anything near what he makes in a year. Bear in mind, unless something's changed, his wife's money isn’t included in his lament. He was addressing a question related to what he makes, and if he would support a salary cut.

The problem with his remarks is one thing, but the widespread attention they've gathered can be blamed on a takedown notice sent to Blip.tv after Talking Points Memo (TPM) posted them in full. Kirk Anderson, who recorded the session and serves as PR director for the Polk County Republican Party, claimed copyright on the video and ordered it removed.

It was TPM that brought the most attention to this issue, and its coverage can be viewed by clicking here and here.

TPM removed the whole video, replacing it with a shorter version focusing only on Rep. Duffy’s money problems. While that's TPM's right, I think it had solid support under Section 107 in Title 17 of the U.S. Code (that’s the copyright law, and section 107 deals with fair use).

“...the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”

[Source]

The video below is just over five minutes in length. This footage was removed from the Polk County GOP blog and YouTube. However, that did not prevent it from spreading across the Web. The copy we have came from Crooks & Liars, you can read its coverage here.

Yet, to keep things on the up and up, we will show the entire Q&A session and not just the remarks so many have taken offence to. It deserves to be commented on, and that is why I wrote this editorial.

If you are working paycheck to paycheck, I completely understand how Duffy's comments would upset you. They upset me too.

But take note how he looks almost shameful when talking about his finances. He was in a room full of people who likely will never see that kind of money for as long as they are working. Not to mention, some of them were probably unemployed.

As I said, I think Rep. Duffy has a good heart, but there is no way I will ever believe he is struggling financially as long as he remains in office.  

Tell us, what do you think of the comments in the video and the money that our elected officials have their hands on?

 

 

[This editorial is the opinion of Steve Ragan and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of those who work for The Tech Herald or the Monsters and Critics (M&C) network. Comments can be left below or sent to security@thetechherald.com]

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