THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Have bow tie, will travel Friday, March 30, 1984 25 Hyman Bookbinder, the American Jewish Committee's representative in Washington, D.C., is one of the more visible Jewish voices on Capital Hill and throughout the country. BY ALAN HITSKY News Editor He "bursts" into the room with a ready smile and wearing one of his "trademarks" — a big bow tie. His conversation will cover 40 areas at once, with the special urgency of a man who has many things to do but who is willing to give you all the time that is necessary. He is the American Jewish Commit- tee's Washington representative for the last 17 years — Hyman ("Don't call me Hymie of Hymietown") Bookbinder. We had a good day last Tuesday," he smiles, referring to the U.S. Senate vote on school prayer. "The Jewish community worked hard on this, but there were many others who also worked hard." Then Book- binder launched into a rapid discussion of the many issues on Capitol Hill that are currently associated with the principle of Separation of Church and State: sending a U.S. envoy to the Vatican, the Supreme Court decision on Pawtucket's nativity scene, tuition tax credits and aid to paroc- hial schools, President Reagan's recent speech to Christian broadcasters. "Bookie," as he is known throughout the country by AJCommittee members, describes himself as just one of "hundreds, maybe thousands" of advocates in Wash- ington. "I have a position, and I try to find out what others are thinking." When he joined the staff of the AJ- Committee in 1967 — "and it certainly was associated with the Six-Day War," he exclaims — he had already spent 16 or 17 years in Washington working on behalf of labor, and then in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations. The earlier ex- periences had given him access and con- tacts with government officials, bureauc- rats and others. "No other country in the world has this system of continuing advocacy." "Lobbying is not a narrow function of just appearing before Congress," he ex- plains. "More important is the whole field of government action — the Administra- tion, the Defense Department, State De- partment — how do they react? What will they say about things?" Bookbinder estimates, that he spends as much time talking to people outside the government as he does contacting Con- gressmen, staffs and bureaucrats. He makes himself available to religious and civil rights groups, as well as the media, to answer questions and initiate conversa- tions. As an example of coalition building, he described how he contacted Reagan's Jewish liaison last week on behalf of the director of the U.S. Committee on Refu- gees. The committee is concerned about pi- rate attacks on Southeast Asian "boat people." "I wanted the director to see, and the liaison to see, that we pick up on their concerns," Bookbinder said. "We share the anguish and pick up the goodwill." On the school prayer issue, Bookbin- der checked off a list of activities: button- holing White House aides to say, "Israel isn't our only concern and you are putting school prayer too high on the agenda"; keeping a list of the way each Senator was expected to vote and staying in touch with the Senators. At one point, Bookie heard that Rudy Boschwitz, the Republican Senator from Minnesota who is Jewish, was switching to the Administration side on the school prayer issue. "I called Boschwitz when we heard that he was wavering. He assured us that he was firmly opposed. Then we asked people in Minnesota to write him and thank him." Bookbinder emphasized that the American public and the Jewish commu- nity have a responsibility to personally correspond with or telephone their gov- ernmental representatives. He said one of his most important jobs is "contacting the people back home" and communicating with local AJCommittee chapters. He em- phasized the American system demands this interchange, and it should not be left to powerful special interest groups or organizations. "No other country in the world has this system of continuing advocacy," Bookbin- der expounds. "It is an important part of the process, and we take it seriously." He said the American system calls for each of the 535 members of Congress to make up their own mind on issues. "They have to hear from their constituents," he asid. "It is not just following party deci- sions." On the school prayer issue, one Senator who was expected to vote "our way" changed his vote • to support school prayer after receiving 18,000 telegrams on the issue. • Although he laughingly refused to be called the "Hymie of Hymietown" referred to in the now-famous reference by Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, Bookbinder is from New York. He left his hometown during the Korean War to work for the government "for one year" as a labor economist. He then joined the staff of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and then the AFL-CIO before taking a job with the Kennedy Administration as director of the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Fund. From 1964 to 1967, he was an assis- tant director of the Office of Economic Opportunity and a special assistant to Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey. He spends 70 to 80 percent of his time in Washington on "Jewish issues" and he expresses regrets over this ratio. "It means that Israel has remained a challenging problem all of these years." To respond to that kind of problem, Bookie resorts to coalition-building. When Israeli troops crossed into Lebanon in June 1982, Bookbinder invited 40 repre- sentatives of church, black and civil rights groups to a next-day briefing. Some 47 Free Press . . . fair trial? The telephone rang for Hyman Bookbinder as soon as he walked into The Jewish News. The call was from Detroit Free Press editor Joe Stroud. Bookbinder had sent a lengthy letter-to-the-editor last week, complain- ing about the Free Press' front page coverage of his speech to the delegate as- sembly of the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit. Bookbinder had asked during the talk that his remarks be classified "off the record" if reporters were present. Bookbinder proceeded to categorize black Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson as a "scoundrel" who is "cor- rectly perceived" in the Jewish commu- nity "as an adversary,, an opponent — some would say an enemy" of Israeli and Jewish American interests. The dapper Bookbinder complained bitterly both to Stroud and in his letter, which the Free Press published Sunday, that his remarks were accurately quoted but that the newspaper's handling of the story was irresponsible. Hyman Bookbinder people came, and Bookbinder and repre- sentatives of the Israel Embassy "talked, listened and responded to questions" for half a day. He points out that the same kind of program was established in major cities throughout the United States, "but in Washington, these people have access to Congressmen and government officials. This was fundamental community rela- tions." There is no Jewish caucus on Capitol Hill, but about 15 years ago Bookbinder initiated what has become known as "The First Tuesday Group." Representatives of Jewish organizations in Washington meet informally the first Tuesday of each month for lunch and coordinate their efforts, ad- vise each other "and seek help." This year, Bookbinder took the idea a step further, inviting the Jewish aides of all Senators and Representatives to meet for lunch. He estimates that there are lit- erally hundreds of Jewish aides on the Hill and 30 turned out for the first two lunch- eons. "This isn't for lobbying purposes," he says. "There are a number of aides who want to be identified Jewishly, who want to know about Jewish issues." In addition to these activities, Book- binder has numerous speaking engagements and radio and television in- terviews. He spoke to the Jewish Commu- nity Council during his brief visit to De- troit last week, and addressed the local chapter of the AJCommittee. "If you are advocating, you have to advocate," he says. At one of those appearances, he came without his trademark bow tie. He proudly said that he has 200 bow ties that he has sewn himself, but added that he has a new "lady friend" who doesn't believe that he should wear bow ties all the time. The classic expression "Love conquers all" may apply to the energetic Hyman Bookbinder's work on behalf of Israel and the Jewish community, and to a trademark on the Washington scene. Soviets may rebuild Iraqi nuclear reactor Washington (JTA) — The United States appeard to be taking a wait-and-see atti- tude about reports last week that the Soviet Union planned to supply Iraq with a nuclear reactor to replace the one destroyed by an Is- raeli air raid on June 7, 1981. "We understand that the contemplated project merely involves a very pre- liminary feasibility and sit- ing study for the possible fu- ture construction of a nu- clear power reactor by the Soviet Union for the gener- ation of electricity in Iraq," State Department deputy spokesman Alan Romberg said Friday. Romberg noted there was no contract as yet for the ac- tual supplying of the reac- tor. He said if an agreement was reached, it would be eight to 10 years before the reactor could be opera- tional. However, Romberg stressed that it was "sig- nificant that both the Soviet Union and Iraq are parties to the nuclear non- proliferation treaty under which they are committed to placing international safeguards inspections on any power reactors exported to Iraq as well as all other nuclear facilities in that country." Romberg said that these safeguards must be ap- proved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on whose board of governors the United States is a perma- nent member. He added that the USSR "adheres to international nuclear supplier guidelines which require it to assure the peaceful purpose of its nu- clear exports through appli- cation of safeguards and other measures."