THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Boris Smolar's `Between You . . and Me' Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, JTA (Copyright 1983, JTA, Inc.) THE PAC ISSUE: With the current early develop- ments in the campaign for the 1984 elections, the PAC issue is coming more and more to the forefront. The issue involves financial contributions to individual candidates by various groups, including Jewish, to help candidates cover the cost of their election campaigns. A majority of American Jews have hardly heard of PAC, which was approved by Congress 10 years ago. PAC stands for Political Action Committee. There are 3,479 PACs across the country, according to the Federal Elec- tions Commission records. They include 31 Jewish PACs. The PACs contributed in the 1982 Congressional campaign about $83 million, of which $35 million came from large corporations interested in gaining influence in Congress. All the Jewish PACs contributed a total of $1.676 million. The National Jewish PAC — the largest Jewish PAC of all — raised last year over $1 million and spent about $550,000 of this sum on 109 candidates. THE JEWISH PACs: There is opposition to the PAC system among many Americans. They claim that the pre- sent system, as approved by Congress, is a form of legalized bribery. They argue that it enables corporations, industrial enterprises, business associations, medical groups, or- ganized labor, and other interest groups to gain influence in Congress. The anti-PAC elements prefer that financial assistance to candidates in federal elections be given by individuals directly. Basic changes in the PAC system are favored also by some members of Congress. Supporters of Jewish PACs reply to this anti-PAC ar- gument by pointing out that: • Candidates receiving financial support from Jewish PACs are known to have been for years friendly to Israel, and that this is the case also with members of Congress running for re-election. They are not influenced by the Jewish PAC contributions to their campaign since they sympathized with Israel long before PAC was approved by Congress. • Not all legi lators receiving contributions from Jewish PACs r e always voting pro-Israel. This was seen best in the. AWACS issue; when many of them voted to give AWACS to Saudi Arabia despite the opposition of American Jewish organizations. • Members of both houses of Congress voting pro-Israel are motivated in their voting primarily by • the fact that Israel is the most dependable ally of the United States in the Middle East. • The participation of the Jewish PACs in financing the election of candidates to Congress is very small com- pared to the tens of millions of dollars given by other PAC groups, many of which receive their funds from companies and industries involved in heavy trading with Arab coun- tries, making no secret of their interest in securing favora- ble contracts with from the petro-dollar countries. • Jewish PAC money has no visible effect in Congres- sional elections, even .though it is assumed that Jewish PAC money helped to defeat Rep. Paul Findley of Illinois, the ranking Republican member of the - House Foreign Af- fairs subcommittee that authorizes aid to Israel, when he ran for re-election in 1982. Findley was a critic of Israel and advocated U.S. recognition of the Palestine Liberation Or- ganization. The winner was Richard Durbin, a Democrat who is a Catholic lawyer, running for the first time as a Congres- sional candidate in the district that includes Springfield, where there are about 2,000 Jewish voters. Issues involv- ing Israel never came up during Durbin's campaign against Findley. Durbin received more than $100,000 from the 31 Jewish PACs in the country. JEWISH REACTION: Some members of Congress do not accept funds from industries they generally oppose. Others say they will support changes in the law to diminish the effect of PACs, but that they will accept PAC money until a meaningful reform is achieved. Two of the candi- dates for the Democratic Presidential nomination — former Vice President Walter Mondale and Senator Gary Hart of Colorado — announced that they will not accept PAC money. Jews have always been among the highest in voter participation and political contributions. While nearly half of the adult population in the country never votes, about 80 percent of the Jewish voters go to the polls. At a forum held by the American Jewish Congress on the impact of PACs, the opinion was expressed that PAC presently provides the most effective means for pursuing political power, and this applies to the pursuit of Jewish interests as it does to other interests. Until PACs are curbed by legislative changes, it was argued, Jews, too, must participate in the present PAC process. Such participation is helpful not only to Israel but also to interests affecting Jewish life in this country. i N * a P* Not a Cookbook: Tale of Support of Civil Rights "Northern Fried Chic- ken" by Roni Schotter is not a cookbook. Instead, the Philomel Books-published volume tells the tale of a shy 16- year-old girl who champ- ions the cause of civil rights. Set in Providence, R.I., in the early 1960s, the book re- capitulates the activities of Betsy Bergman, who tries to find the courage to act on her convictions. Although the book is fictional, the historical events around which the story is set are true. The author has embellished her work with the likes of famous speeches made during the height of the civil rights movement's activities. Ms. Schotter is a writer and children's book editor. Her first novel, "A Matter of Time," was made into an Emmy Award-winning "ABC Afterschool Special." r. Don't delay, it is urgent that you call today. 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