010219.txt Selling the tax cut is expected to be the main goal this week By Melanie Fonder For The News-Chronicle WASHINGTON - With members out of the city for the week on a district work period, expect to hear from Democrats and Republicans as they test out what appears to be the argument of the year on voters: the size of a tax cut. Details of President Bush's $1.6 trillion plan were introduced two weeks ago, while Democratic leaders introduced their own $750 billion plan this week. The Democrats' plan would devote one-third of the projected surplus to a tax cut, another third to paying down the debt and another to "investments," though details are still being worked out. With two moderate GOP senators - Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and James Jeffords of Vermont - already claiming they do not support the size of Bush's plan, Republican members home for the week are likely to be drumming up public support for the plan. Some, like Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, will be pushing for an even larger number on the package. Congressional Democrats are just as likely to be counter-spinning with the claim that Bush's plan provides the most relief for those at the top of the tax bracket. Wisconsin Democratic Reps. David Obey of Wausau and Jerry Kleczka of Milwaukee have so for been the most vocal opponents of the Bush plan, but Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, said last week he thought it was the "height of lunacy" to base the tax cut on a projected surplus 10 years down the road. Or, like Rep. Tom Barrett, D-Milwaukee, who is mulling a bid for governor in 2002, they might just be pushing their own tax cut plans. Last week, Barrett introduced his own plan in the form of a tax credit out of Social Security paid by workers. THE SKIES OF AFRICA Rep. Mark Green, R-Green Bay, took a recent trip to Africa with Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., to measure education reforms in Mali and Ghana. Speaking on the House floor last week, Green said the trip's purpose was to review the success of a program known as Strategies for Advancing Girls Education. Green also said he and his wife, Sue, taught in east Africa 12 years ago. "We were very much aware of the institutional and cultural barriers that exist, particularly in the developing world, barriers which all too often prevent girls from going to school and finishing their education," Green said. "I readily admit today that I came out a true believer, a great believer in the progress that our dollars are making in those countries." Green is not the only Wisconsin member to venture overseas recently. Sen. Russ Feingold, ranking member of the Africa subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee, left Friday for a weeklong venture to Africa, including Sierra Leone. Feingold has made two other trips to Africa. LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR RUMOR MILL Republican Gov. Scott McCallum, who served as lieutenant governor under Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson for 14 years, is expected to name his successor before the end of the month. Speculation surrounding his choice continues to run rampant, with three failed candidates among the latest mentioned. John Sharpless, who challenged Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, for her congressional seat last year, has been mentioned as has former Rep. Mark Neumann, who lost a close Senate bid against Feingold in 1998. John Gillespie, who mounted a far-fetched campaign against Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Milwaukee, has also been mentioned. Melanie Fonder, a former News-Chronicle reporter, is a staff writer for the Hill, a weekly newspaper that covers Capitol Hill. Her column appears here Mondays. Write to her at melfonder@yahoo.com.