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                                                             Andrew.mcdonald@seiu.org

***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR WED. OCT 31***

Street Theater: A Carlyle Group Halloween

“Sugar Daddy David Rubenstein” To Dole Out Halloween Treats to “Lobbyists”

Politically powerful Carlyle and its companies have showered nearly $23 million on lobby firms over the last five years to protect tax breaks and loopholes, win influence

Latest in a series of lunch hour entertainment events to be hosted in front of the Penn. Ave., NW offices of the Carlyle Group

WASHINGTON, DC – Led by former Carter Administration official David Rubenstein, global buyout firm the Carlyle Group has won a reputation as one of Washington’s most well-connected and politically powerful firms. To celebrate Carlyle’s political influence this Halloween, “Sugar Daddy David Rubenstein” will hand out candy treats to “lobbyists” dressed as Halloween candy bars at a special street theater event at Noon tomorrow outside Carlyle Group headquarters in downtown Washington, DC. The “lobbyists’” candy bar costumes -- a “King Size Paycheck” bar and a roll of “Loophole Savers” -- dramatize what Carlyle has given to lobbyists (big paychecks) and what lobbyists have done for Carlyle in return (save lucrative tax loopholes).

WHAT: Street Theater: A Carlyle Group Halloween with “Sugar Daddy” David Rubenstein and “lobbyist” friends

WHEN: Noon, Wed., Oct 31 - Halloween

WHERE: Outside Carlyle Group headquarters

1001 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC

Since being founded in 1987 Carlyle has profited handsomely from billions in government contracts, subsidies, and payments received by companies it owns in industries such as defense, aerospace, healthcare, and telecommunications. At the same time, Carlyle has exploited loopholes and employed multiple tax avoidance schemes to avoid paying its fair share of taxes. Carlyle’s tax strategies include:

• Top managers such as Mr. Rubenstein paying less than half the tax rate as workers such as nurses and janitors on their primary source of income (known as “carry”)
• The Carlyle Group, as a partnership, pays little or no corporate tax
• Carlyle portfolio companies pay little or no corporate tax because of the tax deductability of the interest payments that result from leveraged buyouts, despite receiving billions of dollars in government contracts, subsidies and other payments
• A Carlyle hedge fund, “Carlyle Capital,” is headquartered offshore on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel. Guernsey “offers the advantages of low corporate taxes, lax regulation and legal protection from unhappy investors,” according to the Washington Post .

About the Carlyle Group

With more than $75 billion in assets under management, the Carlyle Group is one of the five largest corporate buyout firms in the nation. Washington, DC-based Carlyle owns companies that together employ more than 280,000 workers. The firm’s three co-founders, David Rubenstein, William Conway, and Daniel D’Aniello each have a net worth estimated by Forbes at more than $2.5 billion. A recent study estimated Rubenstein’s 2006 compensation at $260 million. For more info visit www.behindthebuyouts.org/carlyle