Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of a Senate committee investigating lavish salaries of nonprofit executives, said leaders of tax-exempt organizations must be responsible for the public trust they've been given. "You've got to put me on a different scale than the little black preacher sitting over there that's supposed to be just getting by because the people are suffering." I pastor a multimillion-dollar congregation. I deal with presidents around this world. "We're not just a bumbling bunch of preachers who can't talk and all we're doing is baptizing babies. "We're not just a church, we're an international corporation, " Long said. He's transformed New Birth, based in Lithonia, from a 300-member church to a 25,000-member megachurch with a global presence, according to the church's Web site. Long, 52, defended his compensation during an interview about his charity. He declined to identify the firm or members of the committees. David Epstein, said an independent compensation committee, along with a second committee within New Birth and a national accounting firm, oversaw those decisions. The charity gave a third board member, Terrance Thornton, a $160,000 loan in 1999 to buy a home site across the street from Long's house, tax records show. Long and his wife, Vanessa, were two of the charity's four board members. In return, the federal tax code says their executives' benefits may not be excessive. Nonprofit groups are exempt from paying state and federal income taxes if they meet certain criteria. The charity made $3.1 million in donations to others between 19, the records show, but they did not contain any itemized breakdown of the donations, as required by the Internal Revenue Service. It reported that its income included royalties, speaking fees and several large donations. Long said the charity, which reported that it stopped doing business after 2000, did not solicit donations from New Birth members. > More than $1 million in salary, including $494,000 in 2000. > Use of a $350,000 luxury Bentley automobile. > A $1.4 million six-bedroom, nine-bath home on 20 acres in Lithonia. The charity's compensation to Long over that four-year period included:
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