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Justices

uphold

Md. law

o n DN A

POLICE MAY TAKE

ARR ESTEE SAM PLES

Scalia joins 3 of court’s

lib erals in diss ent

Chaos in Turkey’s streets

BY R OBERT B ARNES

A divided Supreme Court ruled

Monday that police may take

DNA samples when booking

those arrested for serious crimes,

narrowly upholding a Maryland

law and opening the door to more

widespread collection of DNA by

law enforcement.

The court ruled 5 to 4 that

government has a legitimate in-

terest in collecting DNA from

arrestees, just as it takes photo-

graphs and collects fingerprints.

Rejecting the view that the prac-

tice constitutes an unlawful

search , the majority said it was

justified to establish the identity

of the person in custody.

“DNA identification represents

an important advance in the tech-

niques used by law enforcement

to serve legitimate police con-

cerns for as long as there have

been arrests,” Justice Anthony M.

Kennedy wrote for the majority .

The decision will reinstate

Alonzo Jay King Jr.’s conviction in

a 2003 rape in Salisbury on Mary-

land’s Eastern Shore. He was con-

nected to the crime after a DNA

sample was taken following an

unrelated 2009 arrest for assault.

Law enforcement has found

DNA to be a powerful tool in

solving cold cases, and the federal

government and 28 states allow

the practice.

As with other recent court de-

cisions involving the Fourth

Amendment’s “right of the people

to be secure in their persons,

hous es, papers, and eff ects,

court continued on A9

MURAD SEZER/REUTERS

Protesters stand on a makeshift barricade on the fourth straight day of demonstrations in Istanbul. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the

focus of anger at the government, has dismissed the protesters as “looters,” but President Abdullah Gul has been more conciliatory.

Story, A8

For Hezbollah, a risky engagement in Syria

Why the

sharp rise

in suicides

by boomers?

BY T ARA B AHRAMPOUR

Last spring, Frank Turkaly tried

to kill himself. A retiree in a Pitts-

burgh suburb living on disability

checks, he was estranged from

friends and family, mired in credit

card debt and taking medication

for depression, cholesterol, diabe-

tes and high blood pressure.

It was not the life he had envi-

sioned as a young man in the

1960s and ’70s,

when “people were

more in tune with

each other, people

were more prone

to help each other,”

said Turkaly, 63,

who owned a cam-

era shop and later

worked at Sears.

“There was not this

big segregation be-

tween the poor and

the rich. . . . I

thought it was go-

ing to continue the

same, I didn’t

think it was going

to change.”

Turkaly said he

regrets his attempt

to overdose on

tranquilizers, which he attributes

to social isolation. But in one grim

respect he is far from alone: He is

part of an alarming trend among

baby boomers, whose suicide rates

shot

game that it cannot afford to lose.

Hezbollah militants are being

deployed outside Lebanese bor-

ders for the first time in what its

leader, Hasan Nasrallah, has

called a “new phase” for the move-

ment. With this decision, Hezbol-

lah’s focus has pivoted from fight-

ing Israel to fighting fellow Mus-

lims in Syria.

The group’s loyal followers ap-

pear enthusiastic about the new

battle, with supporters talking of

waiting lists to sign up to fight

alongside Assad’s forces. But ana-

lysts question how long the move-

ment’s near-monopoly on support

among Lebanon’s Shiites will last

as it pitches ever deeper into a

long and logistically draining war

— and draws in fragile Lebanon

with it.

The decision by Hezbollah, a

long-standing ally of Shiite Iran

and Syria, to send thousands of

men to Syria is a risky bid to

ensure the survival of its axis of

support. Geographically, Syria has

long been a conduit for Iranian-

supplied arms to Hezbollah. Polit-

ically, Hezbollah’s alliance with

Syria has helped protect the move-

ment from charges that it is mere-

ly an Iranian proxy.

But the new mission, which pits

Hezbollah against a largely Sunni

Syrian opposition, has a sectarian

flavor and is quickly deepening

divides in Lebanon.

Since Nasrallah dramatically

pledged Hezbollah’s all-out sup-

port for Assad in a May 25 speech,

there have been near-daily signs

of the Syrian war spilling over in to

hezbollah continued on A8

Lebanese Shiite group’s

efforts in favor of Assad

deep en rifts at h ome

BY L OVEDAY M ORRIS

beirut — Space is running low in

the hall in south Beirut where

Hezbollah buries its war dead, a

testament to the heavy price the

Lebanese Shiite militant move-

ment is paying as it pins its fate

ever closer to Syrian President

Bashar al-Assad in a high-stakes

U.S. defenses in Jordan

A missile system to be deployed in

the country could be used to

enforce a no-fly zone in Syria. A8

Sexual-assault bill goes

too far, military chiefs say

BY C RAIG W HITLOCK

The nation’s military chiefs

have told Congress in writing that

they oppose or have strong reser-

vations about a controversial bill

that would reshape military law

by taking sexual-assault cases out

of the hands of commanders, set-

ting up a likely clash with law-

makers who are pushing the idea .

In a rare joint appearance, the

uniformed leaders of the Army,

Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps,

as well as the chairman of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff, are sched-

uled to testify Tuesday before a

Senate panel about what the Pen-

tagon has described as an “epi-

demic” of sex crimes in the ranks.

Lawmakers are floating a variety

of bills to attack the problem but

have not settled on a single ap-

proach.

The service chiefs, however,

made clear in recent letters to the

Senate panel’s leadership that

they do not favor a leading pro-

Suicides per

100,000

Men ages

50-54

1999

20.6

2010

30.7

Women

ages 60-64

1999

4.4

2010

House GOP still skirting the cliff

Caucus puts ambitious legislation on hold as it tries to re-brand

BY P AUL K ANE

O n New Year’s Day, in a

posal that would give uniformed

prosecutors, instead of com-

manders, the authority to open

criminal investigations into

sexual-assault cases and bring

them to trial. Such a change, they

argued, would undermine the

foundation of military culture by

sending a message that com-

manders cannot be trusted to

make good decisions.

“A commander is responsible

and accountable for everything

that happens in his or her unit,”

Gen. James F. Amos, the comman-

dant of the Marine Corps , said in a

May 17 letter to Sens. Carl Levin

(D-Mich.) and James H. Inhofe

(R-Okla.) , the Senate Armed Ser-

vices Committee’s chairman and

ranking Republican. “Victims

need to know that their com-

mander holds offenders account-

able, not some unknown third-

party prosecutor.”

Gen. Ray Odierno, the Arm y

military continued on A12

cramped room in the Capi-

tol basement, House Re-

publican leaders faced an angry

caucus. Democrats had negotiat-

ed them into a corner — virtually

every American would be hit with

a massive tax increase unless the

House agreed to block the hikes

for everyone but the wealthy.

A freshman lawmaker seized a

microphone and demanded to

know how the leaders planned to

vote. House Speaker John A.

Boehner (R-Ohio) was a yes, but

his top two lieutenants were op-

posed.

“If you’re for this and they’re

against, we’ve got problems,” Rep.

Stephen Lee Fincher (R-Tenn.)

shouted at Boehner and more

than 200 lawmakers present, ac-

cording to Republicans who at-

tended the closed-door meeting.

Sure enough, they had problems.

Hours later, Democrats helped

JACQUELYN MARTIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

In the House, Majority

Leader Eric Cantor, left,

acts as legislative

implementer and

Speaker John Boehner

as political strategist.

Boehner pass the measure over

the opposition of more than

60 percent of GOP lawmakers.

That vote, to avert the “fiscal

cliff,” marked a breaking point for

House Republicans, who had dis-

integr ated into squabblin g fac-

gop continued on A4

precipitously

between

1999 and 2010.

It has long held true that elderly

people have higher suicide rates

than the overall population. But

nu mbers released in May by the

boomers continued on A9

IN THE NEWS

INSIDE

New Palestinian pre-

mier Rami Hamdallah

is not known as a politi-

cal operator but is re-

spected as a scholar. A7

U.S. officials will dis-

cuss with NATO allies

the possibility of estab-

lishing a military train-

ing mission for Libya’s

security forces. A7

THE REGION

Mistakes contributed

to the injuries of seven

Prince George’s County

firefighters in a 2012

blaze, a report said. B1

The McLean driver

accused of hitting a bi-

cyclist on the Washing-

ton & Old Dominion

Trail on Saturday night

refused a breath test,

police said. B8

Two District firefight-

ers have been placed on

administrative leave af-

ter they were accused of

sexually assaulting a fe-

male colleague. B5

D.C. Council member

David A. Catania plans

to announce legislation

that could substantially

reshape the city’s public

education system. B1

Low-wage workers

who provide food and

cleaning services in fed-

eral buildings asked

President Obama for

help on their pay. B4

GOP lawmakers, was

accurate, a senior Jus-

tice official said. A2

The Army psychiatrist

charged in the shooting

rampage at Fort Hood

will represent himself at

his trial. A16

As the court-martial

of Bradley Manning be-

gan, a prosecutor al-

leged that the Army pri-

vate “harvested” a mas-

sive trove of classified

information. A3

THE WORLD

A suicide bombing

killed 10 Afghan school-

children, two coalition

service members and an

Afghan police officer. A6

THE ECONOMY

Apple’s late founder

Steve Jobs was a key fig-

ure in the Justice De-

partment’s suit against

the company for alleg-

edly leading an illegal

scheme to raise the pric-

es of e-books. A10

TheWhite House

threatened to veto any

spending bills for the

coming fiscal year un-

less Republicans and

Democrats agree on a

broader budget plan. A9

THE NATION

Attorney General Eric

H. Holder Jr.’s testimo-

ny on the prosecution of

journalists, disputed by

SPORTS

Thomas Boswell

Hey, skipper, playing

through the pain isn’t

working for the Nats. D1

HEALTH & SCIENCE

First blast site

Radiation can still

be found where the

nuclear age began. E1

MEL EVANS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

BUSINESS NEWS........................A10

CLASSIFIEDS...............................D6

COMICS .......................................C6

LOTTERIES...................................B3

OBITUARIES.................................B6

OPINION PAGES.........................A14

TELEVISION.................................C4

N.J. senator dies Frank R. Lautenberg (D),

89, championed liberal causes such as anti-

smoking laws and environmental rules. B6

Test for Chris Christie In selecting

Lautenberg’s replacement, the governor must

balance his state and national ambitions. A5

(DETAILS, B2)

SPORTS

LeBron James scored

32 points as the Miami

Heat beat Indiana,

99-76, in Game 7 of the

NBA Eastern finals. D1

Printed using recycled fiber

A2 Politics & The Nation

KLMNO

TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2013

Happening today

A guide to the major events expected to shape the news.

For the latest updates all day, visit washingtonpost.com.

Accuse first, ask questions later

A third House

committee joined

the stampede to

examine the IRS

on Monday, and

its chairman did

exactly what you

would expect

somebody to do

before launching a

fair and impartial

investigation: He

went on Fox News Channel and

implicated the White House.

Asked by Fox’s Bill Hemmer

what he hoped to learn at

Monday afternoon’s hearing,

Appropriations Committee

Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.)

offered this bit of pre-hearing

analysis:

“Of course, the enemies list out

of the White House that IRS was

engaged in shutting down or

trying to shut down the

conservative political viewpoint

across the country — an enemies

list that rivals that of another

president some time ago.”

It was a sentence in need of a

verb but packed with innuendo.

And it is part of an approach by

House Republicans that seems to

follow the Lewis Carroll school of

jurisprudence. Not only are they

placing the sentence before the

verdict, they’re putting the

verdict before the trial.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.),

chairman of the House Oversight

Committee, announced his

conclusions on CNN Sunday,

declaring White House press

secretary Jay Carney a “paid liar”

for saying that the targeting of

conservative groups was the

work of a “rogue” element

operating out of the IRS’s

Cincinnati office. “The reason

that Lois Lerner tried to take the

fifth is not because there is a

rogue in Cincinnati,” Issa told

CNN’s Candy Crowley. “It’s

because this is a problem that

was coordinated in all likelihood

right out of Washington

headquarters and we’re getting to

proving it.”

Getting to proving it?

Congressional investigators

have not produced evidence to

link the harassment of

conservative groups to the White

House or to higher-ups in the

Obama administration. But the

lack of evidence that any political

appointee was involved hasn’t

The Commerce Department releases international

trade data for April. Visit postbusiness.com for details.

8:30 a.m.

The Senate Armed Services Committee holds a

hearing on sexual assaults in the military. Visit

postpolitics.com for updates.

Dana

Milbank

WASHINGTON

SKETCH

9:30 a.m.

The federal trial in which Apple stands accused of

e-book price fixing continues in New York.

9:30 a.m.

The House Ways and Means Committee will hear

from groups that were targeted by the Internal Revenue

Service’s tax-exempt unit.

10 a.m.

The world marks the 24th anniversary of the pro-

democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

All day

CORRECTIONS

A June 2 A-section article pre-

viewing the court-martial of Pfc.

Bradley E. Manning in the leak-

ing of classified material incor-

rectly described the reason

WikiLeaks founder Julian As-

sange is being sought by authori-

ties in Sweden. He is wanted for

questioning in connection with

sex crimes he has been accused

of committing, but he has not

been charged with any crimes.

A June 1 A-section article

about an increase in mastecto-

mies among younger women in-

correctly said that lumpectomies

are always coupled with radia-

tion. In fact, lumpectomies are

almost always coupled with radi-

ation.

A May 31 Page One article

about President Obama’s former

aides profiting from their experi-

ence incorrectly said that former

senior adviser David Axelrod

added public consulting to his

portfolio after leaving the White

House by founding ASGK Public

Strategies. Axelrod sold his inter-

est in ASGK and in a related firm,

AKPD Media, before joining the

White House in January 2009.

CHARLES DHARAPAK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

New IRS Commissioner DannyWerfel, left, and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration

J. Russell George were the recipients of GOP scrutiny.

stopped the lawmakers from

assuming that it simply must be

true. And so, they are going to

hold hearings until they confirm

their conclusions.

Monday afternoon’s IRS

hearing was held by the

Appropriations Committee.

Judging from the less-than-

capacity crowd, public

enthusiasm for the inquiries is

waning. But for those who

missed that hearing, another was

scheduled for Tuesday morning

so the Ways and Means

Committee could take shots at

the agency. On Thursday, Issa’s

committee will meet yet again to

discuss the topic.

The lawmaker holding the

gavel at Monday’s hearing, Rep.

Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.),

chairman of the Appropriations

subcommittee on financial

services, preceded his official

duties by going on Fox News a

few hours after Rogers, the full

committee chairman. Crenshaw

told Fox that “instructions on

who to target and how to target

were coming from Washington

without any debate.”

Actually, that’s a matter of

considerable dispute. IRS

officials in Washington and

elsewhere were indeed involved

in targeting conservative groups.

But it’s quite another thing to say

that Washington was leading the

effort or that any presidential

appointee was involved. Perhaps

investigators will eventually

uncover evidence of such a thing.

But to announce their

conclusions before assembling

the facts helps the Obama

administration make a case that

the inquiries are partisan.

Of the three committees

looking into the IRS, Issa’s has

taken the lead in innuendo

output. At a hearing two weeks

ago, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)

suggested that then-IRS

Chairman Doug Shulman

conspired with White House

officials to target conservative

groups as punishment for

opposing Obamacare.

At Monday’s hearing, Rogers

attempted to link President

Obama to the scandal at what he

called “allegedly an independent

agency” by asking whether the

president had approved bonuses

for “these very critical people in

this scandal.” In the absence of

facts, Rogers said it just “doesn’t

make sense” that the IRS

targeting was not “directed from

on high.”

Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.)

accusingly asked the witness,

new IRS chief Danny Werfel, if he

had met “with anyone from the

White House to prepare for” the

hearing. He hadn’t. Graves also

found suspicious the fact that

Werfel has “yet to even go to

Cincinnati” to investigate. Werfel

has been on the job 12 days.

Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.)

tried to run down a theory that

the White House had told Werfel

to “take any potential

consequences off the table.” And

Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.)

proposed that IRS civil servants

were being used as “scapegoats”

by Obama’s political appointees.

The Republicans seemed not

to care that the other witness at

the hearing, IRS Inspector

General J. Russell George, told

the committee that he had no

evidence that anybody from the

White House or any presidential

political appointee was involved.

Graves pressed ahead with his

belief that “the president or

subordinates of the president

were well aware of or involved in

the targeting of political

opponents.” Like his colleagues,

he was not about to let the rude

intrusion of contrary evidence

disturb his conclusion.

Twitter: @Milbank

The Washington Post is committed to

correcting errors that appear in the

newspaper. Those interested in

contacting the paper for that purpose

can:

E-mail: corrections@washpost.com .

Call: 202-334-6000, and ask to be

connected to the desk involved —

National, Foreign, Metro, Style,

Sports, Business or any of the weekly

sections. Comments can be directed

to The Post’s reader advocate, who

can be reached at 202-334-7582 or

readers@washpost.com .

Senior Justice official defends Holder

BY S ARI H ORWITZ

A senior Justice Department

official told two Republican con-

gressmen Monday that Attorney

General Eric H. Holder Jr. has

never been involved in the prose-

cution of a journalist for the publi-

cation of classified information.

In an effort to mollify Republi-

can lawmakers who have accused

Holder of perjury, Peter J. Kadzik,

the principal deputy assistant at-

torney general, sent a letter to

House Judiciary Committee

Chairman Bob Goodlatte (Va.)

and Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner

Jr. (Wis.), emphasizing that an

investigation is different than a

IR S back under the spotlight on Hill

prosecution and that any attempt

to obtain a search warrant comes

before any final decision about

prosecution.

“We are unaware of an instance

when the Department has prose-

cuted a journalist for the mere

publication of classified informa-

tion,” Kadzik wrote.

Kadzik’s letter is in response to

accusations by Republican con-

gressmen that Holder perjured

himself when he testified May 15

that the potential prosecution of a

journalist reporting sensitive in-

formation is “not something that I

have ever been involved in, or

would think would be a wise poli-

cy.”

A subsequent Washington Post

report about a Justice Depart-

ment investigation into possible

leaks of classified information

about North Korea to Fox News

led Republicans to question Hold-

er’s statement. In that case, law

enforcement officials character-

ized reporter James Rosen as a

possible

inquiry, during which lawmakers

prodded two former two IRS

commissioners to apologize and

suggested they had misled Con-

gress about the agency’s prob-

lems.

This time, lawmakers focused

on what Werfel would do to help

the agency avoid future mistakes

and hold those responsible for

the targeting campaign account-

able.

“We need to find out what

happened,” said Rep. Ander

Crenshaw (R-Fla.), chairman of

the subcommittee. “Who came

up with this plan and why? How

widespread were these abuses?”

Werfel acknowledged the

problems identified in the in-

spector general’s report and said

the issues had damaged public

trust in the IRS. But he also

defended the agency.

“I have only been with the IRS

a few days, but it is clear to me

that IRS employees take great

pride in the work they do as

nonpartisan civil servants dedi-

cated to helping the nation,” he

said, adding that the agency’s

employees are “shocked and ap-

palled”

George cautioned that Werfel

should not become too involved

in trying to determine who is at

fault for the IRS targeting cam-

paign.

“We, working with the Depart-

ment of Justice, are looking into

this matter,” he said, “and if Mr.

Werfel were to insert himself too

much into the process, it might

impact our ability and the De-

partment of Justice’s ability to

conduct our review.”

Werfel at several points during

the hearing played down the

notion that extra funding could

help the agency fix its problems,

as many defenders of the IRS

have insisted in recent weeks.

“If you start with more money,

it’s the wrong starting point,”

Werfel said, adding that the

more appropriate approach

would be to identify the “frame-

work for doing this right.”

Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.),

chairman of the House Appropri-

ations Committee, applauded

those comments, saying to Wer-

fel, “I’m beginning to like you

when you say you don’t want

more money.”

Rep. José E. Serrano (D-N.Y.),

who criticized GOP lawmakers

for

New leader testifies on

how agency will prevent

fut ure problem s

BY J OSH H ICKS

Congress on Monday held its

fourth hearing on the Internal

Revenue Service’s targeting of

conservative groups, this time

with questions coming from the

House lawmakers who control

funding for the agency.

The Treasury Department’s in-

spector general released a report

last month detailing an IRS ef-

fort that involved the use of

inappropriate search criteria to

single out certain types of tax-ex-

emption applicants for special

scrutiny.

Adding to the recent IRS woes

is an upcoming inspector gener-

al’s report expected to show that

the agency spent an estimated

$49 million on at least 220

conferences over a three-year

span beginning in fiscal 2010.

The House oversight committee

is scheduled to hold a hearing on

that matter Thursday.

Testimony at Monday’s hear-

ing, before a House Appropria-

tions subcommittee, came from

the Treasury inspector general,

J. Russell George, and new acting

IRS commissioner Daniel Werfel,

who served as controller of the

Office of Management and Bud-

get before taking on his new role

with the embattled federal tax-

enforcement agency.

Werfel’s presence changed the

tenor of the questioning com-

pared with previous rounds of

“co-conspirator”

crime.

Holder was consulted and ap-

proved the application for the

Rosen search warrant in that in-

vestigation.

Goodlatte and Sensenbrenner

sent Holder a letter last week ask-

ing for clarification of his re-

marks.

Kadzik wrote in his three-page

letter that the government ap-

plied for a search warrant for

information in Rosen’s e-mail ac-

count only after “exhausting all

reasonable options.”

Under the Privacy Protection

Act, the government may seek a

journalist’s documents or work

product only when there is proba-

ble cause to believe that the jour-

nalist has committed a crime, in-

cluding the crime of unlawfully

disclosing

national

defense

the

targeting

cam-

classified information.

On Monday, Goodlatte and

Sensenbrenner criticized Holder

for not responding to them direct-

ly and instead sending a letter

from a subordinate.

Sensenbrenner said that the

letter from Kadzik “fails to answer

the questions” raised by Holder’s

testimony.

“This response is insulting and

further proof that Attorney Gen-

eral Holder refuses to hold him-

self accountable,” he said.

horwitzs@washpost.com

paign.

Werfel said the IRS would

report by the end of the month

on its progress in three areas:

accountability for the problems,

solutions to those problems, and

a broader review of agency oper-

ations. Those goals align with

directives President Obama and

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew

gave Werfel when he took the

job.

The new acting commissioner

also said the IRS needs to imme-

diately address the backlog of

tax-exemption applications that

were held up under the targeting

campaign.

He said he has ordered the top

tax-exemption officials to submit

a plan for expediting that process

without compromising fairness

and impartiality.

George said again that his

audit did not definitively deter-

mine whether the IRS’s inappro-

priate behavior was politically

motivated, something adminis-

tration officials have insisted

was not the case. He said IRS

employees would not acknowl-

edge during the auditing process

who gave the directive to target

conservative groups. He has said

in previous testimony that ques-

tioning IRS personnel under

oath may yield more information

on that subject.

Make Your

Saturdays Count

trying

implicate

the

Obama

administration

the

IRS

wrongdoing,

questioned

Werfel’s suggestion.

“I guess, as a liberal, I would

say, are you sure you don’t want

any more money?” Serrano said.

“Please understand that there

are consequences to the fact that

we are cutting your budget all

the time.”

Werfel said the IRS may ask

for more money later if the

agency determines that its prob-

lems stem in part from a lack of

resources.“What I’m suggesting

is . . . let’s determine what is the

right approach is for (c)(4) re-

views and then align our budget

to that right process,” he said. “It

could be an increase, it could be

level, or it could be less.”

Monday’s hearing did not

mark the end of congressional

questioning for the IRS. A House

Ways and Means subcommittee

plans to hold a hearing Tuesday

with testimony from groups sub-

jected to delays and extra scruti-

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paign.

Additionally, the House Over-

sight and Government Reform

Committee is scheduled to hold a

hearing Thursday to discuss the

report on IRS conferences.

josh.hicks@washpost.com

For more information, please visit:

go.gwu.edu/engineering

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TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2013

POLITICS & THE NATION

Manning WikiLeaks

court-martial begins

For storm chasers, deaths bring grief and shock

3 losses in Okla. twister

cast new light on boom

in da ngerous act ivity

PROSECUTOR: DATA ‘HARVESTED ’

Defe nse portrays soldier as ‘naive,’ well-me aning

BY J OEL A CHENBACH

AND J ASON S AMENOW

The storm chasers had always

managed to get away. No one had

ever died. But the unthinkable

finally happened — and it was

unthinkable because of the people

involved, a veteran team of chas-

ers led by one of the deans of the

profession, Tim Samaras, 55,

known for being cautious even as

he stalked the world’s most dan-

gerous vortexes.

His son, Paul, 24, was also

killed, as was colleague Carl

Young, 45. Precisely how an expe-

rienced team of chasers met disas-

ter remained unclear Monday,

three days after a mile-wide torna-

do ripped through the Oklahoma

City suburb of El Reno. Eleven

other people died from Friday’s

tornadoes, almost all of them in

vehicles.

The Chevrolet Cobalt driven by

Samaras was found on an unim-

proved county road that paral-

leled Interstate 40. It had appar-

ently been thrown, somersault-

ing, for half a mile, said Chris

West, the undersheriff of Canadi-

an County.

“It looks like it had gone

through a trash compactor,” West

said. “The car was probably about

60 to 70 percent of its normal size

because it had been pushed and

mauled and compacted as it was

tumbling down the road. Like

wadded up.”

Samaras’s body was found in

the car, still buckled in, and the

other two victims were found half

a mile to the east and half a mile to

the west, the undersheriff said.

The tragedy, coupled with mul-

tiple near-disasters among teams

chasing the same storm — a

Weather Channel crew was lofted

in an SUV and deposited 200

yards away — cast new attention

on the increasingly competitive

storm-chasing phenomenon. So

many people are racing around on

the edge of severe weather that

they are creating traffic jams on

rural roads in Tornado Alley. Old

hands worry that amateurs are

getting too close to killer storms.

“Use a telephoto lens for gosh

sakes. That’s what they’re made

for,” said David Hoadley, of Falls

Church, who has been in the busi-

ness for 57 years and pursued the

El Reno twister. “The fact that it

could happen to someone like

Tim, it could happen to me, it

could happen to anybody. People

who chase storms need to back off

a little bit. Plan for a lifetime, like I

did. Take your time.”

Josh Wurman, president and

founder of the Center for Severe

Weather Research in Boulder,

Colo., said: “People have been get-

ting away with being more ex-

treme. . . . I would hope it would

put some damper on the escala-

tion of daredevilness.”

John Francis, a vice president at

the National Geographic Society,

which gave Samaras 18 grants

over the past decade, said he fears

that too many people are jamming

the roads in pursuit of twisters

and that this might have contrib-

uted to Friday’s fatalities. “It re-

minds me a little bit of Everest,” he

said. “When you have a few people

climbing, it’s fine. If you have a

bunch of people stacked up and a

bad situation occurs, it can be

devastating. . . . What is an impor-

tant science practice and one that

is informative for the public can

suddenly become an opportunity

for disaster.”

The funnel that chased down

the storm chasers formed Friday

afternoon and remained shroud-

ed in rain and difficult to see. It

was eccentric in its behavior, like

many tornadoes. First, it traveled

to the southeast, then shifted due

east in a track paralleling Inter-

state 40. When it reached U.S.

Highway 81, the tornado made a

sharp turn to the northeast, as if

following a road sign.

West said that, based on the

debris field left by the Cobalt, it

appears that the Samaras team

was driving due east on the unim-

proved county road on the north

side of the tornado. That would

have kept the team on a parallel

path — until the tornado suddenly

turned to the northeast and closed

on the men. “We’re never going to

know, because they’re not here to

tell us,” West said.

Many other motorists were also

in the path of the storm, which

struck near rush hour. Some were

trying to flee the tornado in their

vehicles. At least one local TV

meteorologist had suggested that

tactic. But the major highways

turned into parking lots.

Among the storm chasers

caught by surprise were Weather

BY J ULIE T ATE

A military prosecutor charged

Monday that Army Pfc. Bradley E.

Manning “harvested” a massive

trove of classified information

from secure networks and made

it available to America’s enemies

knowing he would cause harm.

“This is a case about a soldier

who harvested hundreds of thou-

sands of documents and dumped

them on the Internet where they

would be available to the enemy,”

Capt. Joe Morrow said at the

opening of Manning’s court-mar-

tial at Fort Meade.

He said Manning “knew, based

on his training,” that he “would

put the lives of fellow soldiers at

risk.”

Detained by the military since

his arrest in Iraq in 2010, Man-

ning is the central figure in the

latest and most prominent in a

series of leak prosecutions under

the Obama administration. After

months of pretrial hearings, mo-

tions and disputes over the use of

classified information and public

access to proceedings, the trial

began in a spare courtroom be-

hind guarded gates at Fort

Meade, an Army installation 27

miles northeast of Washington

Manning, 25, is accused of

passing more than 700,000 gov-

ernment and military files to the

anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks,

the largest leak of classified docu-

ments in U.S. history. The materi-

al, which was widely disseminat-

ed, included videos of airstrikes

that killed civilians, sensitive dip-

lomatic cables, and military re-

ports from Iraq and Afghanistan.

He faces 22 charges, including

a count of aiding the enemy,

which could send him to prison

for life without parole. He is also

charged with violating the Espio-

nage Act, a 1917 law created to try

spies and traitors, which carries

severe penalties.

The prosecutor said the judge

would gain a sense of an intelli-

gence analyst who was leaking

documents to WikiLeaks almost

from the moment he arrived at

Forward Operating Base Ham-

mer in Iraq in November 2009.

He produced a slide show outlin-

ing “key evidence” that the prose-

cution intends to present, includ-

ing information from an external

hard drive of Manning’s personal

computer and chat logs.

Morrow said Manning would

“package” information and trans-

mit it within a “couple of hours.”

The prosecutor concluded his

opening remarks by saying that

Osama bin Laden requested and

received a copy of internal U.S.

military logs of the war in Af-

ghanistan from another member

of al-Qaeda.

“Evidence will show that he

knew the nature of the WikiLeaks

as an organization,” Morrow said.

Manning “knew the dangers of

unauthorized disclosure and ig-

nored those dangers.”

In pretrial proceedings, Man-

ning admitted to leaking classi-

fied material to WikiLeaks, say-

ing he intended to “spark a do-

mestic debate over the role of the

military and our foreign policy in

general.” He has offered to plead

guilty to 10 lesser charges relating

to the misuse of classified infor-

mation, which could send him to

prison for 20 years.

Defense lawyer David Coombs,

in a brief opening statement that

followed Morrow’s, addressed

Manning’s motive for leaking the

information to WikiLeaks, por-

traying the defendant as an ideal-

istic and naive young soldier.

Coombs described an incident

that he said Manning observed

when he first arrived in Iraq. A

convoy had been hit by a make-

shift bomb, but once Manning’s

fellow soldiers knew no U.S.

troops were killed, they were re-

lieved and happy, Coombs said.

When the news came that an Iraqi

civilian involved in the incident

had died, the mood did not

change. Manning was disturbed

and started to reassess the rea-

sons he was in Iraq, Coombs said.

It was then that Manning “started

to struggle,” the defense lawyer

said.

Coombs argued that Manning

believed the information he was

releasing was already basically in

the public domain. For example,

he said Manning knew that much

of the information he leaked

about assessments of detainees at

Guantanamo Bay had already

been released by the Pentagon.

“He knew a lot of people didn’t

need to be there, held there year

after year with no hope,” Coombs

said. Manning also thought the

information might be of value to

the detainees’ attorneys or ulti-

mately of some historical impor-

tance, the lawyer said.

Coombs portrayed Manning as

a soldier who hoped to make a

difference by releasing this infor-

mation. He described Manning as

“young, naive and good inten-

tioned.”

Testifying Monday were two

members of the Army’s Criminal

Investigation Command — spe-

cial agents Thomas Smith and

Toni Graham — and Manning’s

former roommate in Iraq, mili-

tary police officer Eric Baker.

Smith, called as the first wit-

ness, testified that he helped se-

cure the scene where Manning

worked, as well as his personal

living space in Iraq. Smith said he

arrived at Hammer on May 27,

2010, by helicopter and seized

two secure computers on which

Manning generally worked.

Smith said he found writable

CDs in Manning’s housing unit.

In one case marked as containing

an Arabic language training CD,

he found Apache helicopter video

that showed the deaths of two

Reuters news agency employees.

The CD was marked “Reuters

FOIA Req” in a black permanent

marker.

He said he placed all the evi-

dence in brown paper bags and

eventually put them in an evi-

dence footlocker. He said he ran

out of paper bags while collecting

evidence.

In attendance at the court-

martial Monday were more than

40 members of the public, includ-

ing Manning’s aunt and cousin.

Outside Fort Meade’s main gates,

more than 30 Manning support-

ers protested in the rain, some of

them holding signs bearing slo-

gans such as “Free Bradley Man-

ning” and “Does America Have a

Conscience?”

MARION CUNNINGHAM/DISCOVERY CHANNEL VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Storm chasers Carl Young, left, and Tim Samaras were killed as they followed a twister Friday.

Channel meteorologist Mike Bet-

tes and two photographers. Their

SUV, emblazoned with the chan-

nel’s logo and the words “Tornado

Hunt,” was tossed by the twister

and left in a mangled heap in a

field, though no one suffered life-

threatening injuries.

“Hopefully our mishap will

teach us all to respect the weather

& be responsible & safe at all costs.

I thought I was doing the right

thing, but obviously I wasn’t,” Bet-

tes said on his Facebook page.

Samaras, who had appeared on

Discovery Channel’s “Storm Chas-

ers” program, was never known to

be reckless. He specialized in put-

ting customized instruments into

the path of storms to measure

their wind velocities, pressure

drops and other characteristics.

He once measured the largest

pressure drop ever recorded.

He also led the field campaign

known as TWISTEX — Tactical

Weather Instrumented Sampling

in/near Tornadoes EXperiment.

Samaras also had a research inter-

est in lightning.

He missed the big tornado that

hit Moore, Okla., on May 20, but

only because he was chasing an-

other twister moving across the

state. At one point, he got within

500 feet of it. The funnel tracked

across four miles of open country

and created, as Samaras put it the

next day in a telephone interview

with The Washington Post, “a

near-perfect data set.”

In an interview with National-

Geographic.com, Samaras noted

the explosion of storm chasing in

recent years. “On a big tornado

day in Oklahoma, you can have

hundreds of storm chasers lined

up down the road. Oklahoma is

considered the mecca of storm

chasing. We know ahead of time

when we chase in Oklahoma,

there’s going to be a traffic jam.”

Storm chasers were struggling

Monday to come to grips with the

death of one of their most es-

teemed colleagues. “Tim was a

great chaser. It boggles my mind,”

said Reed Timmer.

Samaras’s wife, Kathy, and their

two daughters released a state-

ment saying, in part: “Tim had a

passion for science and research

of tornadoes. He loved being out

in the field taking measurements

and viewing mother nature. His

priority was to warn people of

these storms and save lives. Paul

was a wonderful son and brother

who loved being out with his Dad.

He had a true gift for photography

and a love of storms like his Dad.

They made a special team. They

will be deeply missed. We take

comfort in knowing they died to-

gether doing what they loved.”

Friday’s tragedy is unlikely to

slow down the boom in storm

chasing. Chris McBee, co-owner of

Rapid Rotation Storm Tours, was

eyeing the forecast Monday, get-

ting ready for another busy week.

“There’s a chance of storms to-

morrow, out in western Oklaho-

ma,” McBee said. “And I intend to

be out there.”

joel.achenbach@washpost.com

jason.samenow@washpost.com

Carol Morello contributed to this

report.

e ac h

tatej@washpost.com

Ellen Nakashima contributed to this

report.

DIGEST

MISSISSIPPI

Man indicted in case

of poison-laced letters

A federal grand jury has indict-

ed a Mississippi man suspected of

sending poison-laced letters to

President Obama and other offi-

cials.

The five-count indictment

made public Monday charges

James Everett Dutschke, 41, with

producing and stockpiling the

poison ricin, threatening the

president and others and at-

tempting to impede the investiga-

tion. If convicted, he could face

life in prison and thousands of

dollars in fines. Dutschke, who

was arrested April 27 in Tupelo,

has denied any involvement.

—Associated Press

was subjected to major safety re-

strictions in 2010, may be less

risky than once was thought, ac-

cording to a new analysis of the

GlaxoSmithKline drug.

The Food and Drug Adminis-

tration is reviewing a new inter-

pretation of the key study of the

heart attack risks of Avandia,

which suggests the drug is as safe

as older diabetes drugs. At a

meeting this week, the FDA will

ask experts to vote on a range of

options for the drug, including

lifting restrictions on its use.

The positive safety review from

Duke University researchers is

the latest twist in a years-long de-

bate over Avandia.

—Associated Press

Boston fire chief quits: Boston

Fire Chief Steve Abraira resigned

Monday, after 13 of his 14 deputies

complained to Mayor Tom Meni-

no that he failed to take com-

mand of the scene soon after the

April marathon bombing. His res-

ignation becomes effective Friday.

—Associated Press

For more information on Kohl’s community giving, visit Kohls.com/Cares. Kohl’s Cares ® cause merchandise is not eligible for discounts or other

HEALTH

FDA reviews risks

of diabetes drug

Avandia, the diabetes pill that

A4 Politics & The Nation

KLMNO

TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2013

Obama seeks mental health dialogue

or came down with the flu, that

they have that same attitude when

it comes to their mental health.”

The event occurred more than a

month after the failure of one of

Obama’s legislative priorities, a

bill that would have imposed new

gun-control measures in the after-

math of the December school

shooting in Newtown, Conn.

An amendment to the bill that

had broad bipartisan support

would have provided grants to

teach “mental health first aid” to

emergency workers, teachers and

others who might interact with

someone struggling with mental

illness. Advocates are hopeful the

measure will be reintroduced in

Congress later this year.

Obama’s remarks came at the

White House-sponsored National

Conference on Mental Health,

which brought together advo-

cates, elected officials, faith lead-

ers and others to discuss ways to

reduce the stigma of mental ill-

ness, which the president said is a

barrier to those needing help.

The conference was also a way

for the administration to high-

light steps it has taken to bolster

mental health services. Those ac-

tions include a provision in the

2010 Affordable Care Act requir-

ing health insurers to cover men-

tal health services as an essential

benefit, and a White House initia-

tive aimed at mapping the human

brain.

The administration also has

reached out to nonprofit and busi-

ness groups, which unveiled sev-

eral new projects in conjunction

with the conference. Among them

are a new wave of youth-oriented

public service announcements to

air on MTV; a media campaign

targeting veterans; and an effort

to disseminate information about

mental health services on Inter-

net message boards frequented by

video gamers.

Advocates say the president’s

attention to the issue has been a

boon.

“To the extent there is now a

public discussion on mental

health, that is a positive,” said

Chuck Ingoglia, a senior vice pres-

ident at the National Council for

Community

White House conference

comes at a time of

heig htened inte rest

BY S ANDHYA S OMASHEKHAR

President Obama pressed Mon-

day for a more-open dialogue on

mental illness, which has been a

focus of his administration since a

string of mass shootings last year

sparked discussions on bolstering

the nation’s mental health servic-

es.

In remarks at the White House,

Obama noted that most mentally

ill people are not violent and that

many violent people have no diag-

nosable mental problem. But

mentally ill people are more likely

to commit suicide, he said, and

“when a condition goes untreated,

it can lead to tragedy on a larger

scale.”

Lamenting the stigma associat-

ed with mental illness, he said,

“Too many Americans who strug-

gle with mental health illnesses

are still suffering in silence, rather

than seeking help. And we need to

see [to] it that men and women

who would never hesitate to go see

a doctor if they had a broken arm

SUSAN WALSH/ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius listen as Janelle Montaño

of Active Minds speaks at the opening of the National Conference onMental Health at theWhite House.

Behavioral

Health-

care.

In his remarks, Obama singled

out young people and veterans as

groups particularly in need of at-

tention on the issue of mental

health. But he described it as a

broader problem because one in

five Americans suffers from men-

tal illness, touching virtually ev-

eryone in one way or another.

He said that many physical dis-

orders get attention on television,

“some of them very personal,”

pausing for effect as the audience

laughed at the allusion to ubiqui-

tous erectile dysfunction ads.

“And yet, we whisper about men-

tal health issues and avoid asking

too many questions,” he said. “The

brain’s a body part, too. We just

know less about it.”

Also appearing at the confer-

ence were Vice President Biden,

who has been deeply involved in

White House efforts on mental

health; actress Glenn Close, who

has a sister with bipolar disorder

and a nephew with another men-

tal illness, and has started a men-

tal health nonprofit group; and

former senator Gordon H. Smith

(R-Ore.), whose son committed

suicide.

sandhya.somashekhar@washpost.com

Post-fiscal cliff, House Republicans seek to mend deep fractures

gop from A1

“He’s not a God of chaos, he’s a

God of order,” Southerland said.

When the alphabetical roll call

began, the outcome was uncer-

tain. Rep. Justin Amash (R-

Mich.), one of those ousted from a

key committee, was the first to

oppose Boehner, instead voting

for Labrador. During the Bs, Reps.

Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and

Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) did not

vote.

Sources close to Blackburn said

she had suffered from a sinus

infection that led to a bloody nose

and caused her to leave the floor.

Her colleagues took the move as a

way for her to wait to vote until all

the cards played out.

Fincher, who declined to com-

ment for this article, and Souther-

land voted for Boehner.

When the alphabet was fin-

ished, 16 rebels had opposed

Boehner, nine backing someone

else and seven not voting. But he

had 216 votes, the minimum ma-

jority. Because four Democrats

were missing, the threshold

dropped to 216 from the usual 218

tally. Boehner was safe — barely.

Bachmann, Blackburn and two

others, given a final chance to

vote, finally supported the speak-

er, giving him 220 votes.

After watching the white-

knuckle tally in a private room,

Boehner delivered an emotional

acceptance speech that took some

colleagues to task. “If you have

come here to see your name in

lights or to pass off political victo-

ry as accomplishment, you have

come to the wrong place. The door

is behind you,” he said.

Low profile

Since then, Boehner has adopt-

ed his lowest profile in 2 1 / 2 years as

speaker. He is promoting a jobs

plan, complete with its own lami-

nated pocket card, that is a collec-

tion of tax and antiregulation

bills, many of which were intro-

duced in the last Congress. Cantor

has pushed a family-focused

agenda with names designed to

be popular: Kids First Research,

Helping Sick Americans Now,

Working Families Flexibility Act.

Although most items have

sailed to passage — only to face

certain death in the Senate —

Cantor received an uncomfort-

able reminder in late April of his

caucus’s fickle nature and McCa-

rthy again fought allegations that

he is too soft as whip.

A few dozen Republicans op-

posed the modest Helping Sick

Americans legislation because

they said it came from nowhere.

Instead, Cantor pulled the bill and

held another vote to repeal Obam-

acare — their 37th attempt to

repeal part or all of the landmark

health-care law — to appease con-

servatives.

Allies of McCarthy blamed

Cantor in the media for schedul-

ing the vote too soon, but the rank

and file also bore plenty of blame.

Cantor sent his monthly memo to

lawmakers on April 5 summariz-

ing that month’s agenda, includ-

ing the health-care legislation.

“Who reads a memo?” said one

member first elected in 2010, who

is close to leaders.

This central problem — a lead-

ership team still learning how to

work together and a rank and file

so green that even the leaders’

allies tune them out at times —

has many wondering whether

Boehner could win a third term as

speaker and whether other

changes are in store next year.

“It’s too soon to tell,” Labrador

said.

tions, no longer able to agree on —

much less execute — some of the

most basic government functions.

Ever since, Boehner has cau-

tiously tried to steer his party

away from that bitter moment,

with varying success. A short-

term strategy, which conserva-

tives called “the Williamsburg Ac-

cord,” emerged from a bruising

mid-January retreat. It restored

enough unity to permit the House

to dodge a government shut-

down, badger the Senate into

passing its first budget in four

years and open investigations of

the Obama White House.

But beyond those limited ef-

forts, the House has not approved

ambitious legislation this year.

Lawmakers have instead focused

on trying to re-brand the party

around a kitchen-table agenda —

although some of it has run into

trouble. And the most momen-

tous policy decisions, including

an immigration overhaul and a

fresh deadline for raising the fed-

eral debt limit, have no coherent

strategy to consolidate Republi-

cans, much less take on the Demo-

crats.

“We basically have gone three

or four months where we built a

bit of rhythm. It’s been better than

the slug-fest of the previous two

years,” said Rep. David Schweik-

ert (R-Ariz.), who fought so furi-

ously with leaders that they re-

moved him from the Financial

Services Committee in November.

But, he added, “the thing you have

to analyze is: Have we had a pretty

good quarter because we stuck to

the formula of Williamsburg? Or

is it because we avoided the tough

issues?”

Schweikert considers himself a

guarded optimist, but interviews

with nearly three dozen GOP law-

makers and senior aides revealed

plenty of doubt. The majority is

“adrift,” according to a longtime

conservative. The top five leaders

hail from blue states that voted

for President Obama, making

them out of step with a confer-

ence dominated by red-state Re-

publicans. A junior Republican

called it a “fractured” conference

when it comes to the biggest is-

sues.

The leaders have come under

intense scrutiny. Barely 36 hours

after the caustic New Year’s Day

vote, Boehner faced a coup at-

tempt from a clutch of renegade

conservatives. The cabal quickly

fell apart when several Republi-

cans, after a night of prayer, said

God told them to spare the speak-

er. Still, Boehner came within a

few votes of failing to secure his

speakership on the initial vote, an

outcome that would have forced a

second ballot for the first time in

nearly a century.

The coming battles will test

Boehner’s power and, many Re-

publicans privately suggested, po-

tentially reveal whether it’s time

for him to go.

“This is a big summer and fall, a

test for all concerned,” said Rep.

Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a close Boeh-

ner ally.

Bottom-up approach

At the moment, House leaders

have no plan for passing the test.

On a recent Wednesday after-

noon, House Republicans filed

into the same Capitol basement

room, HC5, where they fought on

New Year’s Day. They filtered past

clearly marked NO SMOKING

signs — which, as always, the

Camel-smoking Boehner ignored

— and settled into the same hard

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

House Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio), center right, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.) head to a GOP meeting in January to discuss

the “fiscal cliff ” bill. The measure ended up dividing the caucus.

plastic chairs that have served as

Washington’s toughest ideologi-

cal

But many conservatives con-

sider that insufficient to meet the

Williamsburg agreement, which

they hold requires a path to bal-

ancing the budget within a de-

cade. At Williamsburg, Republi-

cans also agreed to put off the

debt ceiling fight until the fall and

agreed to fund the government at

sequester levels.

Some conservatives are talking

about circulating a petition to

impose an internal rule forbid-

ding Boehner from advancing leg-

islation that does not have majori-

ty support in the Republican Con-

ference, a restriction that would

have torpedoed the fiscal cliff bill.

Boehner has ducked specifics

about the fall. “We’ve not made

any decisions at this point,” he

told reporters recently.

He said that Republicans are in

a similar spot on immigration,

indicating that the rank and file

do not understand the issue.

“We’ve got to educate our mem-

bers and we’ve got to help educate

them about the hundreds of is-

sues that are involved,” he said.

Trouble at the top

Boehner, 63, a former state leg-

islator first elected to the U.S.

House in 1990, hails from a politi-

cal generation far removed from

the classes of 2010 and 2012 —

more than 115 lawmakers who

campaigned against the back-

room deals the speaker was so

adept at cutting.

That makes House Majority

Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), 49,

and Majority Whip Kevin McCa-

rthy (R-Calif.), 48, the emissaries

to the newcomers. When it works,

the division of labor fits their

personal traits: Boehner is the

broad political strategist, Cantor

is the legislative implementer and

McCarthy is the whip rounding

up votes.

Yet the trio has often struggled

to work together. Boehner boasts

that his style is to not “break

arms” when searching for votes,

and McCarthy is a collegial Cali-

fornian whose disposition is to

spare the rod when it comes to the

whip job. Boehner and Cantor

have had an uneasy relationship

for four years, although both sides

say the two have gotten along this

year.

To veteran Republicans and

former lawmakers, the three were

too tolerant of the younger gener-

ation from the outset. The fresh-

men rebelled against proposed

2011 budget cuts because they

didn’t match the GOP campaign

platform — a document almost

none of them had endorsed. Lead-

ers bowed to the new class and

rewrote the legislation.

The resulting showdown with

Democrats came within an hour

of closing the federal government.

Late last year, leaders finally

tried to assert themselves over the

restive caucus. They ejected Sch-

weikert and three others from key

committees, moves widely viewed

as coming from McCarthy, a rare

moment when he cracked the

whip.

Also, many members of the

2010 class are still sore about the

financial quandary that then-

Rep. Jeff Landry (R) was in last

fall in Louisiana when facing Rep.

Charles W. Boustany Jr. (R) in an

election caused by redistricting.

Landry’s friends said he was re-

buffed by influential corporate

donors, who believed leadership

favored the four-term Boustany.

Landry lost badly, outspent by a

2-to-1 margin.

Then came the chairman’s race

for the Republican Study Com-

mittee, a caucus of conservatives.

The most influential lawmakers

and activists backed Rep. Tom

Graves (Ga.), who had rocky rela-

tions with leaders. Yet Rep. Steve

Scalise (La.) won the secret ballot

— an outcome thought to be or-

chestrated behind the scenes by

Boehner and Cantor.

Barely safe

If leaders got what they want-

ed, though, some rank and file

still did not come around.

Just past noon on Jan. 3, as the

113th Congress was being sworn

in, Boehner faced a rare coup

attempt. The normally composed

McCarthy stood on the House

floor screaming at Rep. Raul R.

Labrador (R-Idaho) and Fincher,

who had been approached Jan. 1

by other conservatives interested

in ousting the speaker. Boehner

had pulled Fincher into the

speaker’s office that morning for a

conversation, several GOP sourc-

es said.

The conservatives had decided

that Boehner was too overbear-

ing, too top-down. The central

gripe was freewheeling backroom

negotiations with Obama, talking

about trading $1 trillion in new

taxes for what they considered

modest entitlement reforms.

“It seemed like we did a lot of

things without collaboration,”

said Rep. Steve Southerland II

(R-Fla.), a 47-year-old funeral

home operator elected in 2010

whose Capitol Hill townhouse be-

came a regular meeting spot for

agitated lawmakers.

About 17 defectors were needed

to deny Boehner an outright ma-

jority. The hope was that if they

could block the speaker on the

first ballot, they could convene

the GOP conference in HC5 and

compel someone else — maybe

Cantor, Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) or

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Tex.) — to

challenge Boehner. Even if no one

stood up and Boehner won on a

second ballot, it would have been

a humiliating rebuke.

Southerland, who has previ-

ously talked about his role only

with the conservative Weekly

Standard, said he read the Old

Testament the night before the

vote. He read the story of Saul and

David, as the king of Israel tried to

kill the future king. David wins

and, with a chance to kill the king,

decides to spare Saul.

Southerland woke up con-

vinced that Boehner should be

spared. Others, who spoke on the

condition of anonymity, said they,

too, prayed before siding with

Boehner.

fault

line

the

past

months.

The windowless room with two

large-screen TVs and a couple of

microphones on either side was

handed over to rank-and-file Re-

publicans, nearly 40 of whom

waited their turn to offer ideas for

what the GOP should try to get

later this year in return for agree-

ing to raise the debt ceiling.

Some wanted more energy ex-

ploration, some entitlement re-

form and one lawmaker pushed to

attach antiabortion measures to

the legislative package, according

to Republicans in the room.

This is the price of remaining in

charge in today’s House: Boehner

must always appear to be working

from the bottom up, never seem-

ing to impose his will.

“Gone are the days when the

leaders decide what the confer-

ence is gonna do,” said Rep. Lynn

Jenkins (Kan.), a third-term law-

maker who recently joined the

GOP leadership.

This bottom-up approach and

the indecision it has spawned is

nothing like the 2011 debt ceiling

showdown, when Boehner began

negotiations with a defiant

speech demanding a dollar in

spending cuts for every dollar in

increased borrowing authority, a

principle that became the frame-

work of the deal.

Many within the party wonder

if there’s any approach Republi-

cans will unify behind this time.

Several veteran Republicans,

speaking on the condition of ano-

nymity to criticize their col-

leagues, said they fear there are

too many extreme budget hawks

to approve a deal with GOP votes

alone, further hampering their

leverage in negotiations with the

Senate.

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.),

chairman of the Ways and Means

Committee, is trying to rally sup-

port for a broad rewrite of the tax

code in exchange for lifting the

debt ceiling.

kanep@washpost.com

Politics & The Nation A5

KLMNO

TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2013

Senator’s death leaves

Christie with tricky test

Last of a band of brothers

passes from the Senate

BY C HRIS C ILLIZZA

AND S TEVE V OGEL

In the not very distant past,

the corridors of the U.S. Senate

were alive with men who had

served in World War II, among

them such powerful icons as

John Warner of Virginia, Ted Ste-

vens of Alaska, Daniel Inouye of

Hawaii and Ernest Hollings of

South Carolina.

But with the death Monday of

Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), not

a single one of the 115 World War

II veterans who served in the

Senate remain in office, the latest

evidence of the rapid decline in

members of Congress with mili-

tary service.

The passing of Lautenberg

and the dearth of veterans in

Congress is a concern for veter-

ans advocates, who have seen a

number of senior senators with

clout and sympathy toward their

positions pass from the scene in

recent years.

“It’s a sad day,” said Louis Celli,

national legislative director for

the American Legion. “These

were some of the most ferocious

advocates for veterans that we

had. We as veterans counted on

the senior leadership, the World

War II veterans, to represent us.

We respected them, they respect-

ed us, and without them, there’s

going to be a void.”

Lautenberg “was a real cham-

pion for veterans,” said Bob Wal-

lace, executive director of Veter-

ans of Foreign Wars. “He was

very proud of the fact that he

served in World War II and got

educated on the GI Bill. He want-

ed to do the same for younger

veterans, no matter what genera-

tion they served.”

More than a badge of honor,

the common military service

bonded many of the World War II

senators, who would often come

together to foster a spirit of coop-

eration throughout the legisla-

tive body.

“It cut across ideological

lines,” said Donald Ritchie, the

Senate historian. “They could

put aside the politics and talk

about when they were in the

South Pacific together.”

For a time, the Senate was

home to three men — Inouye,

Bob Dole of Kansas and Phil Hart

of Michigan — who had recuper-

ated at the same Army hospital

from serious wounds incurred in

World War II combat.

As recently as the 111th Con-

gress, which ended Jan. 3, 2011,

there were 26 members of the

Senate who were veterans. Today,

12 of those 26 are gone, for a

variety of causes, from death to

retirement to electoral defeat.

Two more veterans — Sen. Tom

Harkin (D-Iowa) and Sen. Tim

Johnson (D-S.D.) — are retiring

at the end of the 113th Congress

next year.

In the House, only 19 percent

of House members were active-

duty military, the lowest percent-

age of veterans since World War

II, a decline fueled in part by the

end of the military draft in the

early 1970s. The highest percent-

age was in 1977, when eight in 10

members of Congress had some

form of military service.

Veterans of Iraq and Afghani-

stan have not been elected to

Congress in large numbers. “So

far, it doesn’t look like it’s hap-

pening,” Celli said. “It’s going to

take a while.”

Two veterans of World War II

— John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) and

Ralph M. Hall (R-Tex.) — remain

in the House.

Dingell issued a statement

Monday saluting Lautenberg. “In

his work on behalf of the people

of New Jersey, and his time spent

in the Army in defense of our

nation — a brother of mine in

arms during World War II —

Senator Lautenberg did his job

and did it well,” Dingell said.

Ritchie noted that a Civil War

sesquicentennial exhibit on dis-

play at the Capitol tells the story

of the more than 150 Union and

Confederate veterans who

served in the Senate through

1929, when the last of them, Fran-

cis E. Warren of Wyoming, died.

“Here we are commemorating

it 150 years later as the last veter-

an of World War II dies,” Ritchie

said.

agree, and we had some pretty

good fights,” Christie said. He

praised Lautenberg “as an advo-

cate for the causes that he believed

in and as an adversary in the politi-

cal world.”

Loved by Senate colleagues who

admired his personal spirit — a

World War II veteran who co-

founded the payroll-services com-

pany Automatic Data Processing

and championed progressive

anti-smoking and environmental

protection laws — Lautenberg’s

popularity had slid in the past

decade among Jersey insiders

most concerned about their own

local power. His age and declining

health made Lautenberg less of a

presence back home, and Newark

Mayor Corey Booker (D) an-

nounced his intention to run for

his Senate seat before Lautenberg

announced, in February, that he

would not seek reelection.

Battling pneumonia and the ef-

fects of chemotherapy treatments

from a few years ago, Lautenberg

missed so many Senate votes this

year that Trenton and Washington

were filled with rumors he would

retire in the spring. He returned to

the Capitol for just two key votes —

one to support the gun-control law

requiring universal background

checks, an issue he has champi-

oned since the 1990s, and another

to help push Obama’s pick to head

the Environmental Protection

Agency out of committee.

Confidants batted down retire-

ment rumors with a swift fury,

telling inquiring reporters that

Lautenberg’s deep-seated hatred

of Christie would make that im-

possible. Christie once called the

28-year senator an “embarrass-

ment” and a “partisan hack.” Laut-

enberg called the popular gover-

nor “the king of liars.”

Lautenberg, some close to him

whispered, would rather die in

office than live to see Christie se-

lect his replacement.

Now, Lautenberg has done just

that.

Lautenberg’s funeral is sched-

uled for Wednesday, and no an-

nouncements are expected before

then. But the succession plan has

become even more muddled by the

state’s conflicting election laws.

One law calls for a special elec-

tion by November, when Christie

will be on the ballot against a

Governor must balance

state, national ambitions

in na ming a succ essor

BY P AUL K ANE

In a state where political blood

feuds have been a proud tradition,

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R)

and Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D)

went to extremes trying to live up

to the legend: They hated each

other and made it known.

Lautenberg’s death Monday

may represent the veteran sena-

tor’s closing bid on the last laugh:

The timing of his passing is likely

to create as many headaches for

Christie — a high-profile 2016

presidential hopeful — as it pres-

ents opportunities.

Lautenberg’s death means that

Christie must now navigate, in a

more conspicuous fashion, the

tricky political currents at the con-

fluence of his long-term national

ambitions and his current bid for

reelection in perpetually “blue”

New Jersey.

If he selects an interim senator

with moderate leanings who be-

comes the first Republican to win a

New Jersey Senate race since 1972,

Christie could boost his image

with establishment Republicans

who see his can-do style as the

antidote to the party’s ills in recent

presidential elections.

Yet such a pick could further

alienate the GOP conservative

base, which plays an outsize role in

early presidential primary states.

Those activists have not forgiven

Christie for embracing President

Obama in the final days of the 2012

campaign, when Obama toured

the Hurricane Sandy-ravaged Jer-

sey Shore. The two men trekked

through the wreckage of the iconic

boardwalks and roller coasters

that provided the early inspiration

for their mutual music hero , Bruce

Springsteen.

For now, Christie has remained

mum on his plans. Instead, he paid

tribute Monday to the fighting

spirit of the state’s longest-serving

senator.

“It’s no mystery that Senator

Lautenberg and I didn’t always

agree. In fact, it probably is more

honest to say we very often didn’t

EDUARDO MUNOZ/REUTERS

A staff member hangs a portrait of Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-

N.J.) in the lawmaker’s Newark office after his death onMonday.

little-known and underfunded

Democratic state legislator. An-

other appears to give Christie the

flexibility of appointing an interim

senator until November 2014,

when the usually scheduled elec-

tion for a full six-year term is slat-

ed.

vote since Thomas Kean Sr. won

reelection as governor in 1985.

(While Christie and Christine

Todd Whitman won three gover-

nor’s races combined, neither hit

50 percent; the last Republican to

reach that mark in any statewide

race was George H.W. Bush in his

1988 presidential landslide.)

Christie is likely to focus on a

few close GOP allies: state Sen. Joe

Kyrillos, his best friend in the legis-

lature, who lost a 2012 Senate bid;

Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, a popular

former federal prosecutor who

supports abortion rights; or

Thomas Kean Jr., a state senator

and the son of the former gover-

nor.

Any of those choices would

probably disappoint conserva-

tives, but they would provide the

least

This adds another layer of in-

trigue to Christie’s maneuvering.

Some Republicans believe that the

best bet for winning the seat is to

push for a 2013 election, allowing

the interim senator he appoints to

attach himself or herself to Chris-

tie’s coattails and slingshot to an

upset victory over the Democratic

nominee.

However, that would require

another race in 2014 and, more

importantly to the state’s intensely

parochial politics, it would add a

wild card to a governor’s race in

which Christie has been way ahead

by virtue of his handling of Sandy.

His continued work with

Obama, including a high-profile

visit by the president to the state’s

boardwalks for the kickoff of tour-

ist season on Memorial Day week-

end, has only further agitated con-

servative activists who fervently

cheered Christie’s anti-union

speeches just a few years back.

Christie was not invited to

speak this year at the Conservative

Political Action Conference, a

gathering of the movement’s most

fervent activists that doubles as an

annual cattle call for GOP presi-

dential contenders.

These activists would prefer

Christie to name a true conserva-

tive, such as Rep. Scott Garrett

(R-N.J.), to the Lautenberg seat.

But Garrett would stand little

chance of being elected to a full

term in a state where no Republi-

can has received 50 percent of the

amount

turbulence

Christie’s fortunes.

One New Jersey Republican op-

erative described the governor as

being in a “do no harm” mode.

Having a competitive Senate race

alongside the governor’s race

might upset that apple cart, partic-

ularly if African American voters

in cities such as Camden and New-

ark turn out in higher than expect-

ed numbers to support Booker’s

bid to become the first black state-

wide official in New Jersey’s histo-

ry.

“Congressional seats are valued

less than in other states. In New

Jersey, the big stakes are in Tren-

ton, so the death of Senator Laut-

enberg means more to people in

D.C. than internally,” said Ross K.

Baker, a leading political observer

at Rutgers University, suggesting

Christie might lean toward ap-

pointing someone to run in 2014 if

his lawyers say it is permissible.

paul.kane@washpost.com

chris.cillizza@washpost.com

steve.vogel@washpost.com

washingtonpost.com

A gallery covering Frank R.

Lautenberg’s career and

video of Chris Christie’s tribute to

his late rival can be found at

washingtonpost.com/politics.

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