Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 45, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 21, 1991 Page: 4 of 32
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Opinion 4 TEXAS JEWISH POST, THURSDA Y, NOVEMBER21, 1991-HANUKA ISSUE-IN OUR 45TH YEAR
WASMINOTON WATCH
By James David Besser
TJP Washington Correspondent
Jewish Boost for
Anti-Duke Effort
With David Duke’s
campaign for the Louisi-
ana statehouse attracting
support from angry,
alienated voters around
the country, many Wash-
ington political activists
decided to lend their ex-
pertise to the other side in
the nasty campaign.
Several leading Jewish
political consultants made
the trek South to work in
the anti-Duke effort, in-
cluding pollsters and fun-
draising specialists.
A belated effort to mine
the Jewish community for
contributions to the Ed-
win Edwards campaign
began only two weeks
before last Saturday’s
election — an attempt to
offset the heavy inflow of
out-of-state money into
the Duke campaign.
The most successful
fundraising operation was
staffed by Michael
Lewan, the top aide to
Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-
Conn.).
Working from a down-
town Washington office,
Lewan raised more than a
half-million dollars for
the Louisiana Democratic
party, mostly from the
Jewish community.
“In a very short period
of time, we put together
an operation around the
country,” Lewan said.
“It was really a ‘two
minute drill.’ ”
Lewan said that the
fundraising effort, which
paralleled efforts in the
black community and
among progressive and
labor groups, was hectic
but satisfying.
“This was perhaps the
most stressful experience
I’ve ever had — mainly
because of the time,” he
said. “We had only two
weeks to put this thing
together, to explain what
we were doing, to get the
money down to
Louisiana. But it was very
satisfying.”
The well-oiled Jewish
political fundraising net-
work gave the pro-
Edwards effort an impor-
tant boost, he said.
So did a group of
Jewish legislators, who
tapped their own net-
works of contributors to
add to the Louisiana ef-
fort.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-
Mich.), Sen. Frank
Lautenberg (D-N.J.),
Rep. Stephen Solarz (D-
N.Y.) and Lieberman
made calls urging con-
tributors to help the Lou-
isiana Democrats.
Another player in the
Jewish fundraising effort
was Monte Friedkin, a
leading pro-lsrael activist
and Democratic party of-
ficial.
Sheldon Beychok, a
member of the Jewish
political community in
Louisiana, raised more
than $100,000 with a
single fundraising letter,
using a mailing list ob-
tained with the help of the
National Jewish Demo-
cratic Council.
But it wasn’t just the
big spenders and high-
powered political pros
who helped stem the Duke
tide.
Young workers at
several Jewish groups
traveled to Louisiana to
stuff envelops, staff cam-
paign offices and provide
transportation to the
polls.
“1 was in Pennsylvania
the week of the (Harris)
Wofford campaign,” said
Roger Kossin, a legislative
assistant at the
Washington office of the
American Jewish
Congress. “It occurred to
me that with this election
coming up in Louisiana, it
was even more important
to get involved.”
Is the administration
serious about Zionism
as Racism repeal?
Is the administration
ready to back up its
rhetoric about repeal of
the United Nations
“Zionism as Racism”
resolution with strong,
swift action?
That was one of the
questions lingering after
last week’s meeting be-
tween selected Jewish
leaders and President
George Bush.
“The president indicat-
ed that he will seek repeal
quickly,” said one parti-
cipant in the meeting.
“But it appears they have
not signaled this to the
Arab world, particularly
to Egypt. If the adminis-
tration is serious about re-
peal, they have to lean on
Egypt — and there’s no
indication they are doing
that.”
A group under the aus-
pices of the Conference of
Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organi-
zations is preparing a
wide-ranging campaign to
build international sup-
port for the action.
“We feel we have a
clear mandate to mobilize
the constituency of the
Presidents Conference,
and to reach out to non-
Jewish and human rights
groups,” said Kent
Schiner, president of
B’nai B’rith International
and chairman of the
Presidents’ Conference
UN committee. “We want
to do this before a new
secretary general comes
in board; the window of
opportunity will be in
December.”
The President’s Con-
ference is sending out lists
of countries that have
agreed to co-sponsor a re-
peal — and countries that
the Jewish community
hopes to enlist in the ef-
fort.
High on that list is Ger-
many, which is not cur-
rently a co-sponsor. Pro-
lsrael officials, Schiner
said, will be meeting with
German representatives in
Washington, and mobiliz-
ing senators and congress-
men with good connec-
tions in the German
government.
“This is just like work-
ing on a piece of legisla-
tion,” said another Jew-
ish official working on the
repeal effort. “There
needs to be a community-
wide effort; we need to in-
crease public awareness,
and mobilize all of our re-
sources to convince key
countries that now is the
time to do this.”
The unstated feeling of
the Jewish leadership, this
source said, is that the ad-
ministration IS committed
to a repeal effort — but
that given other adminis-
tration priorities, it will be
largely up to the Jewish
community to get the ball
rolling.
Bush meeting bruises
feelings
When the President of
the United States meets
with Jewish leaders,
there’s always a scramble
for invitations — and al-
ways some hurt feelings
among those who didn’t
make the cut.
That was the case when
President Bush sat down
with a select group of
Jewish bigwigs in New
York.
The meeting came at
the request of the White
House, and the guest list,
in part, reflected the ad-
ministration’s desire to re-
pay Jewish groups that
had supported various
items on the White House
agenda.
Included were represen-
tatives of Agudath Israel
of Amer'ca and the Union
of Orthodox Jewish Con-
gregations of America,
groups that provided sup-
port to the administration
during the fierce battle
over a civil rights bill.
One group that was ex-
cluded — apparently be-
cause of opposition from
other Jewish organiza-
tions — was the National
Jewish Community Rela-
tions Advisory Council
(NJCRAC).
NJCRAC’s executive
vice chair, Lawrence
Rubin, declined to talk
about the meeting at the
Waldorf-Astoria.
But sources close to the
organization suggested
that NJCRAC’s exclusion
reflected rising tensions
between the group and a
number of major Jewish
organizations.
The White House office
of public liaison received
pleas from several groups
not invited to the meeting,
according to sources here.
Pro-Israel Senator in
Tough Fight
With the MiddleEast
peace process moving
through uncharted terri-
tory, the Jewish com-
munity has a greater
responsibility than ever to
explain Israel’s needs to
the American public.
To that end, the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee
brought a group of ac-
tivists together last week-
end in Washington.
About fifty AJC ac-
tivists from around the
country attended a hastily
arranged “Operation
Outreach” conference,
where they were briefed
on the fast-changing
situation.
“The basic feeling in
the Jewish community is
that American generally
support Israel — but that
there’s a lot of static on
that connection,” said
Jason Isaacson, the
group’s Washington re-
presentative. “There’s
been so much talk about
settlements coming out of
the administration and
Congress that it’s tended
to obscure some of the
broader issues.”
Israel’s confidence in its
relationship with Wash-
ington has been challeng-
ed in recent months; the
AJC activists, he said, ex-
plored new ways of rein-
forcing the Washington-
Jerusalem connection.
The group was briefed
by congressional staffers
and several key legisla-
tors — including Rep.
David Obey (D-Wis.), a
powerhouse in the con-
gressional budget process.
Isaacson, one of a small
handful of Jewish ac-
tivists who attended the
Madrid peace conference,
also provided his own per-
spective on the continuing
peace process.
New Headache for
Jewish Republicans:
Pat Buchanan
Jewish politicos are
keeping an eye on the
Senate race in Wisconsin,
where pro-Israel stalwart
Sen. Robert Kasten, a
Republican, faces a stiff
challenge from Rep. Jim
Moody, a Democrat with
excellent pro-lsrael cre-
dentials.
Kasten has been a
favorite with pro-Israel
political action commit-
tees (PACS), thanks in
part to his sponsorship of
last year’s $400 in housing
loan guarantees for Israel
and his leadership in this
year’s fight for a $10 bil-
lion loan guarantee
package.
But Kasten’s conserva-
tive views on domestic is-
sues have frequently earn-
ed the ire of Jewish ac-
tivists; PAC support for
Kasten has been a central
fact in the debate over
“single-issue” politics in
the Jewish community.
Moody is in a delicate
position when it comes to
Kasten’s pro-lsrael and
pro-aid credentials.
Foreign aid has never
been popular in Wiscon-
sin. But Moody cannot at-
tack Kasten’s strong sup-
port for major-league aid
for Israel without
bringing into focus his
own pro-Israel track
record.
“The trick for Moody
will be to create the over-
all perception that Kasten
is a guy who cares about
foreign countries, but not
about Wisconsin,” said a
Jewish politico who is
watching the unfolding
campaign. “But it will be
a tricky argument to
make. And Moody is
enough of a realist to
know that an argument
like that can easily back-
I
WASH. WATCH page 22
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 45, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 21, 1991, newspaper, November 21, 1991; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth754418/m1/4/: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .