Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 42, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 15, 1992 Page: 6 of 24
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Wash Watch
continued from p. 4
ing their best not to sound
overconfident.
But if s hard when you’ve
just won a dramatic come-
ffom-behind primary victory
over two better known, bet-
ter financed Democrats—
and when you’re well ahead
of the Republican incumbent
in the polls.
Pro-Israel political action
groups have reportedly been
working energetically to
spread the word that a defeat
for Sen. Robert Kasten, a
Wisconsin Republican,
would be a disaster for pro-
Israel power in Washing-
ton—even though Feingold’s
positions are every bit as pro-
Israel as Kasten’s, and even
though Feingold himself is
Jewish.
Almost every pro-Israel
political action committee
(PAC) is giving money to
Kasten, the most energetic
and effective protector of aid
to Israel in the Senate, and
shunning the challenger.
It was Kasten whose name
appeared on the bill provid-
ing $10 billion in loan guar-
antees to Israel; it is Kasten
to whom pro-Israel groups
turn whenever aid to Israel is
under attack.
But Feingold, a state sena-
tor who has been trying to
steal Kasten’s job for three
years, is attracting consider-
able support from individual
Jews who don’t like Kasten’s
conservative stands on a wide
range of domestic issues.
“We’re getting a very fa-
vorable response from the
Jewish community,” said a
Feingold aide. “We actually
expected more resistance
from the Jewish community
because of Kasten’s promi-
nence on Israel. But I think
Jews are looking more to the
domestic issues. And pro-Is-
rael people are also looking
at the polls, realizing that
Kasten is down—so they
want to cover their bets.”
“I went to a forum he did at
the (Milwaukee) JCC,” said
Esther Leah Ritz, a longtime
Jewish activist in Wisconsin
and also a longtime foe of the
single-interest PAC system.
“It was a very positive audi-
ence. 95 percent of the ques1
tions people asked him were
on domestic issues; his sup-
port for Israel was taken for
granted.”
Feingold’s astonishing as-
cent to the political big
time—and his support from
rank-and-file Jewish vot-
ers—bolsters the argument
against single-issue politics,
Ritz argued.
“The PACs have gotten
themselves into a real spot,”
she said. “How can you be
single issue in a complex
world like this?”
But pro-Israel forces here
in Washington insist that
they’re just being practical;
Kasten’s seniority and his
position on the foreign op-
erations subcommittee of the
Senate Appropriations Com-
mittee make him an invalu-
able asset to pro-Israel forces,
they argue.
Women in Politics Session
Could Get Hot:
Things could get hot and
heavy on Sunday, when a
high-powered bunch of Jew-
ish women pols get together
to discuss—what else?—
Jewish women in political
life.
The New York session,
sponsored by the American
Jewish Congress Commis-
sion for Women’s Equality,
will feature a long list of suc-
cessful activists—including
Karen Adler, national Jew-
ish coordinator for the Clin-
ton-Gore campaign, Muriel
Fox, the chair of the National
Organization for Women le-
gal defense and education
fund, and Sandy Stein,
founder of Winpac, a pro-
Israel political action com-
mittee.
The session will also fea-
ture speech by the commis-
sion chair, Ann Lewis, along-
time political consultant
The fireworks could come
with an appearance by New
York City comptroller Eliza-
beth Holtzman, who recently
lost her Democratic primary
Sen. Alfonse D'Amato
bid for the right to face off
against Sen. Alfonse
D’Amato, a Republican.
Some feminists are peeved
at Holtzman for helping tor-
pedo the campaign of
Geraldine Ferraro, who was
the front runner in that race
right up until election day.
The session will also fea-
ture some new data highlight-
ing the importance of Jewish
women in the electoral pro-
cess at both the local and the
national levels.
Reich for Clinton...And
D’Amato:
Bill Clinton’s Jewish cam-
paign team is proud of their
surrogate speakers program,
which has trained dozens of
speakers to appear before
Jewish groups on behalf of
the Arkansas governor.
Seymour Reich
And just to show that they
are equal-opportunity
minded, Clinton forces in-
clude in the ranks of their
surrogates Seymour Reich,
the former chair of the Con-
ference of Presidents of Ma-
jor American Jewish Orga-
nizations.
What is wrong with that
picture?
Reich, the former chair of
the Conference of Presidents
of Major American Jewish
Organizations and the former
president of B ’nai B ’ rith, has
issuedaringing endorsement
of Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, a
Republican, in his race
against a Jewish challenger,
New York Attorney General
Bob Abrams.
But not just any Republi-
can; D’Amato’s defeat is a
top priority for the Demo-
crats. More importantly,
D’Amato’s outspoken con-
servatism makes Jewish
Democrats positively cho-
leric when his name is men-
tioned.
Clinton’s Jewish team is
pleased to have Reich on their
side—but they don’t quite
know what to make of his
endorsement of D’Amato.
Reich, on the other hand,
is not suffering from any dis-
sonance.
“I happen to be a regis-
tered Democrat, and Bob
Abrams is a friend of mine,”
he said in an interview last
week. “But in my opinion,
the Jewish community owes
Sen. D’Amato a vote of
thanks for his work on behalf
of our community and on
behalf of Israel. Theonly way
one can express that is
through the election.”
Reich said thathis endorse-
ment of D’Amato will not
impair his ability to work
actively on behalf of Bill
Clinton.
“I can keep the two sepa-
rate,” he said.
Shoshana Cardin’s New
Job
The organized Jewish
community can’t afford to
Shoshana Cardin
waste talent—which is why
Shoshana Cardin has appar-
ently landed herself another
high profile volunteer posi-
tion.
Cardin, who is currently
winding up her second year
as chair of the Conference of
Presidents of Major Ameri-
can Jewish Organizations, is
almost certain to become the.,
next chair of CLAL—the
National Jewish Center for
Learning and Leadership, the
group that specializes in the
training of a new generation
of Jewish leadership.
Cardin has been nominated
to the post, and has accepted;
the official vote will come in
December.
“It will be a very exciting
opportunity for me, because
Jewish continuity and edu-
cation have always been es-
pecially important to me,”
she said. “It fits in with what
I have been saying for many
years—a call to spirituality,
to Yiddishkeit.”
But don’ tcountMs. Cardin
out of the Presidents Confer-
ence race quite yet; as the
group’s nominating commit-
tee begins the process of se-
lecting her successor, there
are continuing rumblings that
some members of the um-
brella organization would
like to see Cardin win an
unusual third term—and that
Cardin may be interested in
continuing her role at the
Conference.
But there are other candi-
dates whose stars appear to
be rising—including Robert
Lifton, the president of the
American Jewish Congress,
and Maynard I. Wishner,
chair of the National Jewish
Community Relations Advi-
sory Council.
AIDS Quilt Back in Town:
The NAMES Project
AIDS Memorial Quilt—the
sprawling, portable monu-
ment to the thousands who
have died as a result of the
AIDS epidemic—was back
in Washington over the Co-
lumbus day weekend.
And Jewish AIDS activ-
ists were prominent in the
ceremonies, which once
again tried to focus a dis-
tracted nation on the spread
of the disease and on the need
for a more energetic federal
response.
Washington’s gay and les-
bian synagogue, Bet
Mishpachah, participated in
a dawn-to-dusk interfaith
prayer vigil at Constitution
Gardens, where the quilt was
displayed.
Bet Mishpachah closed out
the vigil with a Havdalah
service; the flame from the
Havdalah candle was used to
light the candles of many
participants in a candlelight
march.
The event also featured
two quilt panels sewn by Is-
raeli AIDS activists and
flown in for the event.
Israelis Support Local La-
bor Movement:
Some people have sug-
gested that Israel has long
since shed its labor-Zionist
heritage.
But you’d never know it
by the mini-flap last week
over accommodations for the
next round of Middle East
peace talks, scheduled to be-
gin on October 21 here in
Washington.
The huge Israeli delega-
tion was slated to return to
the Mayflower Hotel—anice
chunk of change for the
pricey downtown hotel.
But the Mayflower is in-
volved in a contract dispute I
with Local 25 of the Hotel
and Restaurant Employees
Kirkland, no slouch when it
comes to promoting labor,
brought that fact to the atten-
tion of Histradut, the Israeli
organized labor establish- I
ment.
In no time at all, the gov-
ernment of Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin—a Labor
government, after all—de-
cided that solidarity with the
union was more important I
than convenience; the Israe- I
Us quickly canceled their res-
ervations at the Mayflower
and began negotiating with
other hotels.
Some participants may be
complaining about the fact 1
that the Middle East pace ■
talks are returning to Wash-
ington—but not Washing-
ton-area hotel operators, who
have seen millions of dollars
of new business during the ,
previous six rounds of talks I
as the big delegations each
stake out territory at one of
Washington’s plusher estab-
lishments.
Hillary Clinton Meets the
Jews:
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton, who has
been the target of energetic
•m WASH WATCH p.23
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 42, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 15, 1992, newspaper, October 15, 1992; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth754323/m1/6/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .