A2

Politics & The Nation

Nation’s overall birth rate falls 2 percent...............................................A3 FDA food-plant inspections down, auditor finds .................................A6

The World

Siberia to the Caucasus: A journey of radicalization............................A8 Bombings kill at least 35 in Shiite areas of Baghdad............................A9

Economy & Business

Rescue plan fails to boost Greece..........................................................A11 Fed minutes clarify that rate increases aren’t tied to timeline ..........A13

Opinion

On financial reform, the GOP should stop saying no ........................A16 The West Virginia coal mine explosion demands action ...................A16

CORRECTIONS

 Several lines of text were miss- ing from an April 6 Health and Science interview with animal scientist Temple Grandin. The full question and Grandin’s an- swer are as follows: Q: The HBO film chronicled your life as a young woman but left off 30 years ago. Are you still working on slaughterhouse de- sign? A: The newest thing I’ve been working on is a numerical scor- ing system that measures how well a plant is handling its ani- mals. It’s been in use for 10 years. It looks at how many cattle fell down during handling, how many got poked with an electrical prod, how many were mooing or bellowing. I can measure that. If three cattle fall down, you fail the audit. The movie is from the begin- ning of my career when I was much more focused on equip- ment. Good equipment is half the equation and the other half is management. You’ve got to have management that cares.

 An April 4 Outlook article about Tiger Woods’s return to golf incorrectly referred to the Masters tournament in Augusta, Ga., as the “PGA Masters.” The event is on the PGA tour, but the PGA is not a sponsor.

corrections@washpost.com.

 An April 4 Jobs article about striking the proper tone in com- municating with potential em- ployers misspelled the last name of Rob Hellmann, a vice presi- dent of the Five O’Clock Club and associate director of its career coaches’ guild.

 The How To column in the April 1 Local Living section mis- identified the Alexandria com- pany owned by David Williams, who cautioned against trying to move a radiator without a profes- sional’s help. It is Williams Pro- fessional Painting, not Potomac Paint & Design Center. Williams Professional Painting can be con- tacted at 703-768-8143 or www.

williamsprofessionalpainting.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE

 Two of the six photographs with a Reliable Source item in the April 6 Style section, on the sea- son opener at Nationals Park, were published in error. The pho- tos of James Carville with his daughter Emma and of Annette Lerner with Debra Lerner Cohen were not from that game, but rather from the Nationals’ 2007 opener at RFK Stadium. An edi- tor inadvertently chose them from The Post’s electronic photo archive.

The Washington Post is committed to correcting errors that appear in the newspaper. Those interested in contacting the paper for that purpose can:

Call 202-334-6000, and ask to be connected to the desk involved — National,

ombudsman@washpost.com.

on washingtonpost.com/real-art-dc

Calling all artists

We’re looking to discover the Washington region’s

newest talents. Whether you work in photography, sculpture, watercolor or other media, we want to see your art. Submit your images online at

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Tea partiers, eat your hearts out: A group of liberals got together Tuesday and proved that they, too, can have a tax rebellion. But theirs is a little bit different: They want to pay more taxes. “I’m in favor of higher taxes on people like me,” declared Eric Schoenberg, who is sitting on an investment banking fortune. He complained about “my absurdly low tax rates.” “We’re calling on other

Y

wealthy taxpayers to join us,” said paper-mill heir Mike Lapham, “to send the message to Congress and President Obama that it’s time to roll back the tax cuts on upper-income taxpayers.” “I would with pleasure

sacrifice the income,” agreed millionaire entrepreneur Jeffrey Hollender. The rich are different. In another era, the millionaires on Tuesday’s conference call might have been called “limousine liberals.” But that label no longer applies. Now any wealthy liberal worth his certified-organic sea salt is driving a Prius. For them, Obama’s plan to

“spread the wealth” (by raising taxes on families earning more than $250,000) is too conservative. “The Obama plan we don’t think goes far enough,” Lapham protested. “We think probably more like the top 5 percent should have their taxes raised.” That would be those above $200,000. “Or go beyond

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that,” he suggested. With April 15 a week away,

many Americans are feeling right about now that they are paying entirely too much. But the millionaires say they see the beginning of a grass-roots movement of the angry under-taxed wealthy. “The bottom line is the public is on our side,” said Brian Miller, executive director of United for a Fair Economy, which is organizing the anti-anti-tax rebellion. As evidence, he pointed to a Quinnipiac University poll from March that found 60 percent of Americans favored raising taxes on those earning more than $250,000. This is not surprising: Americans generally favor raising taxes on the rich, as long as they are not defined as rich themselves. But Miller also pointed to a surprising finding in the poll: Among families earning more than $250,000, fully 64 percent favor raising taxes on themselves. This part was surprising — but possibly suspect. Only 65 of the 1,907 people polled were in that income group, too small a sample for solid conclusions.

Still, the millionaires on the

call get credit for putting (some of) their money where their mouths are. They are among 50 families with net assets of more than $1 million to take a “tax fairness” pledge — donating the amount they saved from Bush tax cuts to organizations fighting for the repeal of the Bush tax cuts. According to a study by Spectrem Group, 7.8 million households in the United States have assets of more than $1 million — so that leaves 7,799,950 millionaire households yet to take the pledge. Even so, the pro-tax protesters will probably get their wish. The Bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of the year, and the odds are high that Congress will not renew them for those earning more than $250,000. That means the tax fairness pledge is probably unnecessary — although it’s a handy fundraising tool for advocacy groups. “We need many more folks, especially rich folks like us . . . to join the cause,” urged Marnie Thompson, a relative pauper in the group because her family income is $160,000 to $240,000 a year. Of course, if millionaires really want to pay higher taxes, there’s

nothing stopping them. The Treasury Department Web site even accepts contributions by credit card to pay the public debt. There’s also nothing to stop the millionaires from paying the tax obligations of, say, Washington Post columnists. But then they wouldn’t have

the satisfaction of giving their tax-cut proceeds to the pro-tax movement.

“Over the past four years,” Schoenberg said, “I donated over $200,000 that I had received in tax cuts.” And he thinks it’s time for “my fellow wealthy Americans to join me.” His $200,000, after all, won’t do much to ease a federal debt of $12,000,000,000,000. His donation will, however, ease the sense of guilt that comes with great wealth, described poignantly by the millionaires: “In 1865, my

great-great-grandfather Samuel Pruyn founded a paper mill on the banks of the Hudson River in Glens Falls, New York,” Lapham explained. Judy Pigott, an industrial heiress on the call, added her wish that her income, “mostly unearned income, be taxed at a rate that returns to the common good that I have received by a privilege.”

Confessed Hollender, who now runs the Seventh Generation natural products company: “I grew up in Manhattan on Park Avenue in a 10-room apartment.” As tea parties go, this one was decidedly high tea.

danamilbank@washpost.com

Heavy head, heavy heart

The head of George Washington, one of six statues of U.S. presidents created by artist David Adickes, is prepared to be moved into storage from Presidential Park in Pearland, Tex., near Houston. The land that housed the never-completed attraction, which was slated to open in 2009, is in foreclosure.

NICK DE LA TORRE/HOUSTON CHRONICLE VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2010

Steele tries to reassure RNC members

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by Philip Rucker and Chris Cillizza

As the Republican National Committee announced that it had recorded its best March fundrais- ing ever in a midterm election year, Chairman Michael S. Steele moved to solidify his control of the party Tuesday, calling rank- and-file members to reassure them that the RNC is on stable footing. Steele’s operation has faced questions for more than a week, since the revelation of a spending scandal that some top party strat- egists warn could undermine the GOP’s ability to pick up seats in November. As he spoke with RNC mem-

bers Tuesday, Steele highlighted that the party has responded to the scandal, with a new chief of

staff and revamped accountability measures. An RNC spokesman also reported that the committee raised $11.4 million in March. But the committee continued to face questions about the contro- versy. An RNC member from New Hampshire resigned Tuesday in protest of the party’s handling of donor money. And GOP strat- egists groused that, March’s fund- raising notwithstanding, the RNC may not have enough money to fund voter-turnout operations and television advertisements in some competitive races. With the elections seven months away, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said the turmoil at the RNC “means very little” for the party’s November prospects. “Would everybody like for the RNC to be at the top of its game? Sure,” said Barbour, a former RNC chairman who heads the Repub- lican Governors Association. “But I’m not seeing much practical ef- fect on the outcome of the elec-

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tion. . . . The political environ- ment is certainly better for Re- publicans than it’s been in many years at this stage of an election cycle. So if — and I emphasize if — the RNC is not as strong in No- vember as it may have been at some other times, the other com- mittees can make up for that, par- ticularly with seven months of warning.” Not all Republicans were as sanguine. “It’s incredibly frustrat- ing,” said a strategist close to the party’s congressional leadership who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “They have victory plans that need to be put in place, volunteer recruitment goals, vot- er-turnout operations, and they don’t have the money to put any- thing in place.” While the RNC’s $1,900 expen- diture at a racy California night- club grabbed headlines, strat- egists said the greater problem is the party’s cash flow as it begins a campaign cycle with dozens of competitive Senate and House contests, as well as 37 gubernato- rial races. The committee has raised about $120 million during the current cycle but, according to its last federal report, it has just $9.5 million in the bank. In February, for example, the

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party raised $7.69 million and spent $7.71 million, according to Federal Election Commission fil- ings. By comparison, the RNC had a war chest of nearly $41 million in February 2006, although it had the advantage then of controlling the White House and both cham- bers of Congress. Despite the RNC’s cash-flow problems, Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.), who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Commit- tee, said Steele came through in January by transferring critical manpower and money to help Scott Brown win a surprise victo- ry in the special election for a Sen- ate seat from Massachusetts. “We’ve learned about several unacceptable developments at the RNC in recent weeks, which Chairman Steele has personally acknowledged should not have taken place,” Cornyn said. “It’s my hope that the RNC will regain its

footing quickly and that we can move forward to focus on win- ning Senate seats during the No- vember elections.” Yet it is not lost on congression- al leaders that the NRSC and the National Republican Congres- sional Committee have tradition- ally received substantial disburse- ments from the RNC. In the 2006 election cycle, the RNC trans- ferred $18 million to the NRCC and nearly $5 million to the NRSC in an unsuccessful attempt to pre- serve GOP majorities in both chambers. “It made a big difference,” said

Carl Forti, who was the NRCC communications director in 2006. “It helped us play in races that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to play in.”

With the political environment looking favorable, there is a grow- ing concern that the RNC will not be able to provide that sort of fi- nancial boost in the late stages of this fall’s campaign.

“If the RNC continues on its

current cash trajectory, the politi- cal environment won’t mean a thing,” said another senior Re- publican operative. “Both the Sen- ate and House campaign commit- tees will not be able to maximize GOP gains unless Steele starts netting cash and transferring it.” But even as the RNC seeks to re- store confidence to major donors, there were fresh signs of dis- content Tuesday. Sean Mahoney, an RNC member from New Hampshire, resigned, calling the nightclub scandal “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” “The scandal represents a pat- tern of unaccountable and irre- sponsible mishaps that ought to unnerve every fiscal conserva- tive,” Mahoney wrote in a letter to Steele. “Overspending on private planes, limousines, remodeling, catered parties and high-priced junkets demonstrates a complete lack of respect for RNC donors; a lack of respect that was spelled out all too clearly in a leaked PowerPoint presentation that mocked our Committee’s own do- nors.”

ruckerp@washpost.comchris.cillizza@wpost.com

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