SPORTS HASLETT GIVES AN EDGE TO REDSKINS STYLE&ARTS
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Tea party has nation’s attention.
Now what? November elections will be a big test of
movement’s staying power BY AMY GARDNER
There may be no better illustration of
the collective if disjointed strength of the tea party movement than Bucks County, Pa., a suburban sprawl outside Philadel- phia. There, in April 2009, twostay-at-home
momsorganized one of the first tea party groups in the country. They called them- selves the Kitchen Table Patriots and began collecting e-mailsandphonenum- bers of fellow conservatives. Soon a scattering of other groups
sprung up nearby, including the Lower Bucks County Tea Party Patriots, which hosted meetings where friends and neighbors could gather to share their frustration over the $819 billion federal stimulus package, bank and auto compa- ny bailouts, and other actions of the Obama administration. Just a year and a half later, the Kitchen
Table Patriots have discoveredmany new friends,somefromfar outsidePennsylva- nia. The group now operates out of a two-floor office, paid for by a national conservative group called the American Majority. Another big tea party funder, Washington-based FreedomWorks, is supplying yard signs and campaign liter- ature. To generate news coverage and excite
local volunteers, yet another tea party organizing group, Americans for Pros- perity, will make Bucks County a promi- nent stop on its “Spending Revolt” bus tour. And Tea Party Express, out of Sacramento, is considering a local stop on its fourth and final bus tour of the election cycle. Still in its infancy, the tea party is often described as a coming together of like- minded Americans working in close co- ordination. In reality, it is more like a collision, a mash-up of disparate groups with differing priorities — some large, some small, most anger-fed and all with an ambition to overthrow the establish-
tea party continued onA8
Tea party’s top players A guide to five national groups that
influence the movement. A8
‘Pledge’ vs. ‘Contract’ Pollster Frank I. Luntz stacks up the GOP’s 2010 “A Pledge to America” against its 1994 “Contract with America.” B1
INSIDE POLITICS&THENATION Atlanta minister’s
future in question Bishop Eddie L. Long, facing four lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct, is expected to address his 25,000- member congregation Sunday. A4
THEWORLD Fraternal fight in Britain
Ed Miliband narrowly defeats his older brother to lead the Labor Party. A18
SPORTS O’Brien paces Maryland
Redshirt freshman quarterback Danny O’Brien leads Terps by Florida International, 42-28. D1
Va. Tech defense stands tall
Hokies stifle Boston College, 19-0, for first shutout since 2006. D11
ARTS & STYLE....................E1 BUSINESS NEWS...............G1 CLASSIFIEDS.....................H1
COMICS......................INSERT EDITORIALS/LETTERS.....A24 JOBS...................................J1
JAY PAUL FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
LilyGordon, 6, who went to theNational Book Festival on theMall with her father, AndreGordon of Purcellville, gets a hug from the Dr. Seuss character the Cat in the Hat.More than 70 award-winning authors, illustrators and poets participated in the event, talking about their books and signing them for visitors.
LOTTERIES.........................C3 OUTLOOK...........................B1 OBITUARIES..................C8-11
STOCKS..........................G6-8 TRAVEL..............................F1 WORLD NEWS.............A17-21
Printed using recycled fiber
P.W. CO.
Brewer Creek 66 Manassas 95 MD. 270 D.C. VA. 495
146 houses 69 original owners
77 changed hands:
Trends in Prince William County
By quarter 2,048 2,000 Foreclosures 1,500 –$251
70 lost value (In thousands)
–175
7 held or gained value
–100 –40 PICTOMETRY
Since its construction in 2005-06, a Manassas suburban neighborhood has lost more than half its original owners as its home values plummeted. Banks initially foreclosed on these homes, but since May 2009 short sales seem to be the transaction of choice.
43 foreclosures 19 short sales
6 listed as short sales
O’Malley says increase in 2007 was necessary
BY JOHNWAGNER If former Maryland governor Robert
L. Ehrlich Jr. wins his job back, he promises to roll back the state’s sales tax rate to where it was when he left office. Thatmight be good for consumers, but it could cost the Maryland treasury more than $600 million a year — and Ehrlich has yet to say how he would pay for it. The Republican’s pledge has emerged
1,000
HayeS s
tati o n W a y 500 Short sales 61 0 ’08 ’09 ’10 SOURCES: Prince William County; RealEstate Business Intelligence
BY DAN KEATING, PATTERSON CLARK AND LARIS KARKLIS/WASHINGTON POST r
re C r e e k P
e w
Walking away with less
BY DINA ELBOGHDADY AND DAN KEATING
playingouthereinManassas,alongBrew- er Creek Place, a modest, horseshoe- shaped street lined with 98 brick town- houses. Several years after the U.S. fore- closure crisis erupted, the U-Hauls are back. Thelast time,banks seizednearlyevery
A
fourth house on the street through fore- closure.This time,homeowners are going
The cat’s meow new wave of distressed home
sales is rippling, more quietly this time, through American cities andsuburbs. Its unsettling effects are
another route: a short sale. “I love this house, but I just have to
leave,” said Leanna Harris, 27, the owner of a corner unit that used to be the build- er’s model, with a stone path in the yard and a gourmet kitchen. “I’mat peacewith itnow.” The original owner bought the home
for $400,714 in 2006; Harris and her husband, both bartenders, paid what seemedtobeabargainprice,$289,000, in 2008.But theyhave fallenbehindontheir mortgage payments, in part because her husband wasoutofwork.Nowtheyhavea $246,000 offer for the home, and the
l Never-built N.C. projects offer insight into fraud. C1
balance on their mortgage is more than that.Theywant toaccept theoffer.All they needis their bank’s okay. That kind of deal is called a short sale,
and it’s sweeping the country. In these deals,alenderallowsatroubledborrower tosellahome for less thanwhat’sowedon themortgage. Completed short sales havemore than
tripled since 2008, and 400,000 of these deals are projected to close this year, according to mortgage research firm CoreLogic. The giant mortgage financier Fannie Mae approved short sales on 36,534 home loans it owned in the first half of the year, nearly triple the number
short sales continued onA7
as the costliest promise by far in a competitive rematch with Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), and the implications ex- tend well beyond the price tag. For Ehrlich, the decision by O’Malley
390 283 l a ce
and his fellow Democrats to raise the sales tax from 5 percent to 6 percent reflects a broader attitude in Annapolis that needs to be checked. It was the largest part of a package of $1.4 billion in tax increases passed during a 2007 special session called by O’Malley to balance the budget. In an election year inwhich voters are
anxious about the economy, Ehrlich has warned that even bigger tax increases could be on the way if O’Malley is reelected — including an expansion of the sales tax to services now exempted, including haircuts, auto repairs and gymmemberships. For O’Malley, Ehrlich’s pledge to roll
back the tax rate amounts to an “empty promise.” By his accounting, it is but one of many Ehrlich plans unlikely to be realized because of the budget shortfalls the state continues to face. As O’Malley put it recently, his predecessor is trying “to eat cake and lose weight.” O’Malley said the 2007 tax increases
were needed to address the “fiscally irresponsible policies” he inherited from Ehrlich. And although O’Malley has not ruled
out additional tax increases if reelected, he said Ehrlich is engaging in “fear- mongering” and that more budget cuts will be used to close a $1.1 billion projected shortfall in next year’s budget. There is no other levy that the
government imposes that touches as taxes continued onA10
SAFETY MEASURES AT A STANDSTILL
Recommended steps stuck for years in bureaucratic mire BY RYAN PHILLIPS
AND AARTI SHAHANI News21
Americans are exposed every day to
risks in highway, air, rail andwater travel becauseofgovernmentdelays inactingon recommendations made by the National Transportation Safety Board, which in- vestigates accidents andproposesways to prevent them. The delays arise from a bureaucratic
systemthat is convoluted and inefficient, according to an analysis of thousands of pagesofdocuments, reports,andaccident andinvestigationdatafromtheNTSBand federal regulatory agencies. For example, more than 710 people
have died over the past 30 years in plane crashes inwhich ice built up on thewings of aircraft while the Federal Aviation Ad-
DAILY CODE Details, B2
9 6 0 9
ministration has considered NTSB rec- ommendations to reduce icingdangers. The Federal Railroad Administration
took 36 years after the first NTSB recom- mendation to settle on a rail car design thatgivespassengersandworkersabetter chance of surviving crashes. Twenty-four years passed before the
National Highway Transportation Safety Administration required trucks to have anti-lock brakes recommended by the NTSB. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Ad-
ministration has yet to fully implement a 2002 recommendation to keepmedically unfit bus and truck drivers off the roads. During that time, unfit bus and truck drivers have caused more than 800 fatal accidents. From 2000 to 2010, the average time
transportation continued onA16
The Washington Post Year 133, No. 295
CONTENT © 2010 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2010 Behind on their mortgages, more homeowners are turning to short sales to get out from under the debt but still protect their credit
Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan Washington.
washingtonpost.com • $2 MD DC VA SU V1 V2 V3 V4
In Md., sales tax debate is a definer
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