Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1992-01-09

              Ohio Hist.Society Libr
1982 Velrnal Ave .
Columbus, Ohio
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THE
The Ohio Jewish Chronicle
Serving Columbus and Central Ohio
Jewish Community for Over 60 Years
VOLUME 70
NUMBER 2
JANUARY 9,1992
4TEVET5752
'   DEVOTED   TO   AMERICAN'  AND   JEWISH   IDEALS
Disaffected cantors
form new group
page 2
Police honor lodge
for holiday program
page 2
Shneider to address ,
B&P Group on Jan. 29
'■ ■ page 3
Katzy Cohen to chair
two JFS fundraisers
page 3
Breakup of Soviet
Union raises questions
page 4
Lavon named co-chair
of New Leadership
page 6
R. Milenthal to speak
at Jan. 28 YJP event
' '    ■. page 10
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FEATURE
Power on the Potomac
Washington is replacing New York as the center of
American Jewish political power
By James D. Besser
Twenty years ago, Hyman
Bookbinder, the longtime
Washington representative of
the American Jewish Committee, helped create "First
Tuesday," an informal,
monthly gathering for leading
Jewish activistsworking in
the nation's capital the idea
was to enable them to share
common concerns.
"In those first years, we'd
have maybe seven or eight
people at our meetings" recalled Bookbinder, now retired. But over the years, the
gatherings grew steadily.
"Now, we sometimes have
more than 40 — and many of
them are full-time professionals representing Jewish organizations," Bookbinder noted.
"What I've seen is a constant, uninterrupted increase
in the number of players on
the Washington scene, in the
number oE visits of Jewish officials and organization people
to Washington — professional
andlay."
The growth of "First Tuesday" is one indication of a fundamental recasting of the
American Jewish political
scene in recent years. New
York may still be the spiritual
home of American Jewry, but
Washington is fast becoming
the community's political center.
The result is a Washington
Jewish presence that may be
more politically credible and
more sophisticated than ever
before — but one that no
longer speaks with the resounding authority of a single
voice.
Where before the only Jewish groups in Washington lob-
' bying on domestic issues represented the liberal end of the
Jewish political spectrum, today, with the rising influence
of Orthodox lobbyists, legislators are hearing from a Jewish community that is increasingly split on such key issues
as parochial school funding
and civil rights.
Likewise, before there were
only a handful of pro-Israel
lobbyists, and the unanimity
of the community was reflected in their pitch to Congress. But today, their number
has increased dramatically —
and so has the diversity of
opinions on the Middle East
offered up to Washington decision-makers.
Access Is Key
Having lobbyists in Washington has allowed Jewish
groups to effectively weigh-in
on a growing number of important domestic issues and
has enhanced efforts to secure
badly needed federal funding
for Jewish social and health
services.
Moreover, the growing Jewish mastery of official Washington has helped propel pro-
Israel groups to successes un-
imagined only a dozen years
ago, the debacle over the $10
billion U.S. loan guarantee for
Soviet Jewish resettlement
notwithstanding.
To be sure, some Jewish
groups have long had a major
Washington presence. They
include the American Jewish
Committee, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith,
the American Jewish Congress, the Council of Jewish
Federations, the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations and the National Council
of Jewish Women.
These groups say having a
full-time Washington office
provides significant advantages, not the least of which is
that it enables them to better
play the networking game
that is the key to getting things
done in the nation's capital.
"We benefit in two ways,"
said Henry Siegman, executive director of the American
Jewish Congress. "First, hav-'
ing a Washington office provides us with accurate and
timely information about
what is happening in government. And it gives us much
more access to legislators and
policy-makers."
Secondly, he continued,
"we've found that with a
Washington office, many people in the administration and
on [Capitol] Hill turn to us before certain problems arise, to
get our input. The fact that our
man there is recognized, that
the office's work is considered
reliable, helps us have a much
greater impact."
It is these truisms of Washington political life that have
prompted a variety of other
Jewish groups to also take the
capital lobbying game more
seriously.
One such relative newcomer is Agudath Israel of
America, the politically active
Orthodox group.   .
Agudah opened a Washington office three years ago and
quickly^ become an active
player on a wide range of issues, from education to child
care legislation.
"There are a number of
laws that Congress passed this
year that would have looked
very different if we hadn't had
a Washington presence," said
David Zwiebel, Agudah's director of government relations and general counsel.
"Opening a Washington office
was one of the best decisions
we ever made."
Two years ago, the National
Conference on Soviet Jewry
shifted most of its operations
to Washington, while also retaining a New York office.
"One factor in this shift was
the recognition that Washington plays such a critical role in
moving the advocacy agenda
forward," said Martin Wen-
ick, the group's executive director. "It's the inter-relationships with members of Congress and the administration
over a number of years that is
the capstone of any grassroots effort."
Even regional Jewish agencies have set up shop in Washington, one of them being the
Jewish Federation of Metro
politan Chicago, which has
maintained its own office in
the district for six years.
"We found that the national
staff of the Council of Jewish
Federations represents the
needs and interests of Jews on
a national basis — but they
can't go in and lobby for Illinois," said Joel Carp, the Chicago federation's associate
executive director.
"That's what we're interested in. We want to increase
the state's piece of the economic pie, which potentially
increases the share of funds
available for the Jewish community here for things like
health and social services, for
refugees, for education."
Has the investment paid
off?
, "In six years, we've probably made up the costs of operating that office for more than
a dozen; years," Carp said.
"We're talking about several
million dollars. We have a major grant from HUD for housing for the elderly, we received a second grant from
HUD enabling us to open and
renovate a 23-bed transitional
shelter forhomeless Jews."
But it's not just money that
attracts groups like the Chicago federation to Washington.
"A lot of what happens to the
state of Illinois, in terms of
laws, regulations and procedures are determined in Washington," Carp continued. "How.
regulations and policies get
shaped is very important to
us.
The Israel Lobby
The powerful pro-Israel
community is both a cause
and a beneficiary of this geographic redistribution of Jewish clout.
"I'd say the biggest factors
in the move to Washington
were the historic, momentous
developments of 1967," said
Bookbinder, former American
Jewish Committee official.
"The Six Day War was the
see POWER pg. 4
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