• Bloom so Bloom
•
• Registered Electrologists •
Come and let us remove your unwanted hair problem and improve your appearance.
Near 12 Mile Rd. bet. Evergreen & Southfield
559-1969
Appt. Only. Ask For Shirlee or Debby
From pottery to
handblown glass,
paintings to jewelry
and home accessories.
IT'S ALL THAT YOU WANT
BUT NOTHING YOU'D EXPECT.
I ANALYSIS
Send it for less
at ...
e
Lj - r1 t-1
6453 Farmington Rd.
(at Maple Rd.)
855-5822
IVA-
G- u:L
7 i-f
V Looking • kt
Rich
is the
Best
Revenge
JEWELRY
280 N. Woodward Avenue
Birmingham, Michigan
The Great American Building
next to Crowley's & Sanders
14 Mile & Orchard Lake Rd. • Farmington Hills • 855-4188
Hours: Mon., Tues., Sat. 10-5:30 Wed., Thurs., Fri. 10-9 Sun. 12-5
(313) 433-1150
46) 1.
■
6-MONTH JUMBO CD RATE
7.10%
7.40%
6.75%
12-MONTH JUMBO CD RATE
Contact your
banking
representatives:
Shelly Abel or
Ronald Baskin
435-0420
MONEY MARKET RATE
Certain restrictions may apply. Contact us
for complete details. Rates subject to
change without notice. Good for deposits of
$100,000 or more.
22
FRIDAY, JULY-10, 1987
CLAWSON
330 W. 14 Mile Rd.
LAKE ANGELUS
2986 Walton Blvd.
ROYAL OAK
225 S. Troy St.
FSLIC
Penni Serve.•teel me... Geo
A U S Government A.m.,
JAMES DAVID BESSER
Special to The Jewish News
W
TRUE FAUX
STORE
LOEHMANN'S OF HUNTERS SQUARE MALL
AIPAC, Denying Charges,
Says Doing Its Job Well
ashington — Lead-
ers of the American-
Israel Public Af-
fairs Committee (AIPAC)
are vigorously denying
charges made in the Wall
Street Journal expose of the
influential pro-Israel ad-
vocacy group.
Meanwhile, there are in-
dications that the people on
Capitol Hill who matter the
most to the energetic lobby-
ing organization — senators
and congressmen, and the
large professional staffs who
do the crucial legwork on
every piece of legislation
pertaining to Israel — are
greeting the expose with a
collective yawn.
"AIPAC is very concerned
about the gross inaccuracies
with which the Journal
depicted our organization,"
an AIPAC spokesperson
said. "AIPAC does not
dispute the fact that it is
successful and influential.
But we vigorously deny
charges that • AIPAC coor-
dinates the political con-
tributions of local political
action committees?
(AIPAC officials would not
be interviewed for the Jour-
nal story.)
The same spokesperson
spoke with pride about
AIPAC's role as "the con-
certed voice of the pro-Israel
community. We're not about
to apologize for being effec-
tive?
The Journal article
charges AIPAC with collu-
sion in channeling millions
of dollars into elections
through dozens of small -
political action committees.
A crucial point here is the
difference between a lobby-
ing group and a "political
action committee," or PAC;
AIPAC officials are quick to
point out that the "pac" in
their name, which stands for
"Public Affairs Committee,"
was coined long before the
so-called electoral reform
legislation of the 1970s gave
rise to the PAC as a instru-
ment of special-interest
campaign giving.
Political action commit-
tees are limited in what
they can dole out in any
political race. But a large
number of PACS operating
in concert can have con-
siderable muscle in the
political process.
AIPAC energetically
denies an active role in coor-
dinating PAC contributions.
At the same time, a
spokesperson for the group
does not deny that the group
wields considerable in-
fluence in the pro-Israel
community, and that some
of this influence inevitably
affects the ways political
contributions are doled out.
"It's only natural and
desirable that AIPAC at-
tracts the most active, po-
litically conscious leaders of
the pro-Israel community,"
an AIPAC spokesperson
said. It's just as natural that
these people will take at
least part of the AIPAC per-
spective into the various
other organizations that are
part of their commitment to
Israel.
On the Hill, the reaction
seems to be one of surprise
—not at the news of AIPAC's
close ties to the people in the
pro-Israel community who
"A lobbying group
is being criticized
for being
effective."
hand out the campaign
money, but at the idea that
this reflects anything out-
side of standard operating
procedure in this town.
"Basically, what you have
is a lobbying group being
criticized in a national
paper for being an effective
lobbying group," said one
legislative aide on the Hill
who has worked with
AIPAC on a number of
issues. "I don't always see
eye to eye with the folks at
AIPAC — lately, it seems,
I've disagreed with them
more than anything — but
I'd have to say that they
understand very well how
the system works,-and how
to use it legally and effec-
tively. You can't knock that?'
Senators and Con-
gressmen themselves speak
of AIPAC in ,,only the most
circumspect, respectful
terms — in itself," an indica-
tion of the group's success in
combining lobbying on the
Hill with marketing their
political agenda to just
about everybody else in the
pro-Israel community.
Congressional staffs, the
people who work most close-
ly with lobbyists on a day-to-
day basis, generally regard
AIPAC as a model of an effi-
cient, highly aggressive lob-
bying organization,
although some question the
wisdom of what is seen as
the group's growing iden-