Duey’s Dirty Dealings: State Sen. Stroebel Takes State, Federal Government Handouts, Reports No State Tax Liability in Multiple Years, Tries to Cut Pay of Hard Working Wisconsinites

MADISON, Wis. — A review of publicly available state and federal records reveals State Sen. Duey Stroebel has taken tens of thousands of dollars in state and federal government subsidies and tax breaks while routinely reporting no personal state income tax liability. Stroebel, who resides in a million dollar plus mansion and owns over 300 acres in the immediate area of his estate, has been ringleader in the efforts by a cadre of state legislative Republicans seeking to cut workers’ pay by repealing a state law that requires laborers on public works projects be paid the prevailing wage for similar workers on similar projects in the area.

“Sen. Stroebel is as aggressive in padding his own pocketbook with government subsidies and avoiding paying his fair share of taxes as he is in sticking it to hard-working Wisconsinites whose pay he wants to cut,” commented One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross. “The hypocrisy of his self-dealing is disgusting.”

According to a newspaper reports and review of government records Stroebel, who is not a farmer, has received federal U.S. Department of Agriculture subsidies totalling over $63,000. He has also enrolled large tracts of property comprising his estate in the state Managed Forest Land program that provides breaks of up to 75 percent on property taxes for owners of enrolled properties.

Below is a picture of Stroebel’s multi-million dollar mansion and surrounding estate:

While getting tax subsidies, records reveal Stroebel has also avoided state taxes in at least two years. As reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he “reported owing no state income taxes” in 2009 and 2010.

Ross noted that adding even more insult to the injury of Stroebel’s efforts to pad his own pockets with government programs and to give himself tax breaks are his efforts to cut the pay of hard-working Wisconsinites. In the state Senate, Stroebel has called for the complete repeal of state law protecting workers by requiring they be paid the “prevailing wage” for the same work in the private sector when working on public construction projects. Stroebel was recently caught by the Wisconsin State Journal fabricating details regarding construction worker pay to justify his anti-middle class attacks.

“It is ironic that, while collecting approximately $78,000 annually in pay and benefits serving as a part-time state legislator on top of these state and federal subsidies, Stroebel falsely attacks construction workers who work full-time building our infrastructure to make our communities safer and earn only a fraction of his legislative pay,” Ross noted.

“The question is, does this guy deserve our tax dollars to subsidize his millionaire lifestyle? And the answer is, hell no,” concluded Ross.