42 Friday, November 1, 1985 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS HAVE- $ PAC S $ WE Ji11 443W WHAT YOU NEED IN THE WINTER. VALLEY HILTON Jewish PACs Sherman Oaks/Los Angeles, Calif. Continued from Page 40 Centrally Inc aced It) airports ∎• ■ attrar ham The "Snowbird Special" "See me for a heimish deal" (valid November 15, 198'3 - Mart h 1. 1986 $76 per night/single or double occupancy • nuninuint three nights (plus room two (tree upgrade to penthouse it available, -11Vi ; AC. Includes: Fabulous complimentary champagne brunch for two IVA if 6161 Woodward Detroit, MI 48202 Toll-tree 11;:t on Res. I (800)482. 394ti A.-k tor the "‘3rm !tiff! vet Or Your T!..‘.4 0 In Detroit/ troy ( 31 3) 524-2 WO Just south of the GM-& Fisher Bldg 875-0300 AL'S SAVES YOU MONEY! CUSTOM WALL MIRROR SPECIALISTS Al's Stocks It All! 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To the extent that the funneling of • PAC money into a campaign thousands of miles from a PAC's home base influences elections, "then local voters lose influ- ence," said Washington jour- nalist Edward Roeder, This premium on money — and "out- side money," at that — fosters, said Roeder, "plutocracy, not democracy." But PACmen argue that their groups encourage everyone — even small contributers — to get politically involved; that they reward — not bribe — members of Congress for voting certain ways; and that they reflect the ethnic, political and financial diversity of America. PAC critics are "like Chicken Little," said William Armstrong, president of the Public Affairs council, an organization of cor- porate public affairs executives. "They ignore facts. They stir up emotions. They tell people the sky is falling on our political system." Undoubtedly, PACs do serve a useful function. As University of Southern California political scientist Herbert Alexander said, "Interest groups must sup- port their friends and PACs are the way to do that. People are powerless unless they can com- pete. PACs give everyone a voice in Washington." For decades, Jews didn't have much of a voice in Washington. If they did, it was muffled and hesitant. But since the late 1940s, Jews have perhaps be- come the most sophisticated of ethnic groups in the country. Despite this sophistication, Jews came late to the PAC game. The first pro-Israel PAC was not formed until 1978. Then, Mark Siegel left the White House as Jimmy Carter's liason to the Jewish community to form the National Bipartisan Political Action Committee. In its first year, Siegel's PAC gave $31,350 to 42 congressional races. In 1980, Morris Amitay left as executive director of the Ameri- can Israel Public Affairs Com- mittee (AIPAC) to form the Washington Political Action Committee. And in March 1983, Richard Altman resigned as AIPAC's political director to head the newly formed National Political Action Committee. (Despite the "PAC;" in its name, AIPAC, the leading pro- Israel lobby in Washington, is not a "PAC" and does not con- tribute to political campaigns. However, there have been numerous reports that AIPAC has helped form PACs around the county and coordinates their activities. This would be a viola- tion of AIPAC's legal status as a lobbying group. As sociologist Amitai Etzioni wrote in his 1984 book, Capitol Corruption, pro-Israel PACs "are reported to work closely together to increase their clout, and benefit from the guidance of one lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee." AIPAC officials have denied these charges.) The new Jewish PACs grew quickly. By 1980, two years after the first pro-Israel PAC was formed, 30 Jewish PACs gave almost $1.6 million to con- gression contenders. In 1984, more than 70 Jewish PACs gave over $3.6 million to federal can- didates. Pro-Israel PACs were considered crucial in Paul Si- mon's victory last year over Sen. Charles Percy in Illinois ($321,825 went to the chal- lenger); in Rep. Carl Levin's tight re-election victory in Michigan ($170,388) went to Levin); and in James Hunt's media blitz against Jesse Helms in North Carolina ($216,175) was channeled to Hunt). In the more than six years since the first Jewish PAC was formed, they have mastered the game of campaign finance. Speaking shortly after last fall's election, AIPAC director Thomas Dine said Jewish PACs had helped produce the most pro-Israel Congress in history. The key to this victory, said Dine, was money: "Early money, middle money and late money." (Dine was referring to PAC's strategy of timing their contri- butions in the early, middle to late stages of a campaign. Since a congressman is running for re-election virtually from the moment• he is elected, "early money" may make him indebted to a particular interest group as he begins a new term. This could color his voting habits in Congress. "Late money" — given near the end of a cam- paign when money is always tight — engenders an additional sense of gratitude.) Some Washington wags have dubbed Dine's talk his "Let a thousand PACs bloom" speech. There will probably never be a thousand pro-Israel PACs, partly because the 12 million Jews in the United States could never support so many and partly because some Jews would complain that all those PACs would focus too much attention on the Jewish community. Al- ready, many Jews are worried that the prominence — and the success — of their PACs has fos- tered a new perception that American Jews enjoy unparal- leled political clout. Jewish PACs have been placed squarely in the limelight recently. The Wall Street Jour- nal has published two front-page stories on Jewish PACs in the last two years. In a new book, former congressman Illinois Paul Findley accuses Jewish PACs of having the power to oust him from Capitol Hill and to censure other members of Congress who speak out against Israel. Attention was also drawn by National PAC's full-page ads in the New York Times and by the cumulative effect of over 70 well-heeled Jewish PACs around the country attempting to influ- Continued on Page 44