NSIDE WASHINGTON

63 /(issman, Caddiao

1350 N. Woodward, Just South of Big Beaver (16 Mile)

MAXIMUM DISCOUNT
ON ALL CARS

Please Call
DAVID BIBER 644-1930

Mon. and Thurs. 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

4,4N,G.mE

Tues., Wed., Fri. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Quality Eyewear At up 1*
Excellent Values. 112J

JAMES DAVID BESSER

BerDer

DOLAN

Special to The Jewish News

7001 ORCHARD LAKE ROAD
STE. 120A, W. BLOOMFIELD
JUST S. OF THE BOARDWALK

OPTICAL
COMPANY

855-3360

Morris Bednarsh & Anthony Ferrari

announce that

they have relocated at

Applegate Square

29847 Northwestern Highway

near Inkster Road

356-7007

MB JEWELRY DESIGN & MFG. LTD.

20% OFF

Entire Line
Of
Invitations

Stationary

S'

C

. •
\dt 4%

41"4"

Gemini II 26400 Twelve Mile, Southfield, Ml 48034 t$
Gemini 110600 Galaxie, Ferndale, MI 48220

Inside Franklin Savings Centre

32

FRIDAY, AUG. 7, 1987

American Jewish Congress
Backs Statehood For D.C.

_,
<?.‘,;,50'
,,\/

vt- c.')

`." AZ
∎

c-%°'

It sounds like an unlikely
cause for Jewish activists, but
the American Jewish Con-
gress is convinced that
statehood for the District of
Columbia, which is soon up
for consideration in the
House, is an idea whose time
has come.
"We're the only Jewish
group to take a stand on the
issue," said Tracy Salkowitz of
the AJ Congress. "You can
look at it on several levels. On
a selfish basis, Jews represent
the second largest voting
block in the District, so there
are a lot of Jews who don't
have voting representation in
Congress . That's important
politically. On a more general
level,_we believe it is wrong
for any group of citizens to
have taxation without
representation; obviously,
this is a problem affecting all
DC citizens."
And, Salkowitz says, there's
the matter of supporting the
Jewish community's tradi-
tional partners in the liberal
coalition. Black groups,
especially, have been active in
the DC statehood drive.
Naturally, there is a strong
political component to both
sides of the issue. If DC
becomes a state, it may repre-
sent a big political plus for
Jewish activists here; the
unusually high proportion of
Jews in the District, and their
higher-than-average level of
political participation, might
give proponents of Jewish and
pro-Israel causes an extra
measure of political clout in
Congress.
At least that's one theory.
Several congressional sources
expressed a different one —
that the new state's represen-
tatives on the Hill would
almost certainly be black,
since black voters make up
the largest group of voters in
the district. The black caucus
in Congress has come under
increasing fire from Jewish
activists for its tilt towards
the PLO position in the Mid-
dle East, and the District's
current nonvoting represen-
tative, Del. Walter Fauntroy,
is not given high marks for
supporting Israel:
There are several other
sources of opposition to the
statehood measure. Represen-
tatives of suburban jurisdic-
tions, especially Northern
Virginia, are leading the
fight against statehood, at
least in part because of fears

of the possible imposition of a
"commuter tax" on people
who work in the District but
live in the suburbs.
Maryland's Governor
William Donald Schaefer
sympathizes with the "taxa-
tion without representation"
argument, but has expressed
concerns about a commuter
tax affecting suburban
Maryland residents.
Most Republicans oppose
the bill because it would
almost guarantee two
automatic Democratic slots in
the Senate and one in the
House. And some resistance
is based on recent scandals
within the DC city govern-
ment. "If you used that as a
criteria for full representa-
tion," Salkowitz said, "a lot of
cities and states wouldn't be
part of this democracy."
Several Jewish activists in-
sisted that the statehood
debate should not be part of
the Jewish agenda. The AJ
Congress disagrees. "It's a
justice issue!' Salkowitz said.
"And justice issues should
always be Jewish issues!"

A Sour Note

Jack Kemp (R-NY,) the
quarterback-who-would-be-
president, has kept his name
prominently displayed in
front of the Jewish communi-
ty in the last few months.
Some of the attention, unfor-
tunately, hasn't been exactly
what the conservative con-
gressman might have hoped
for.
On the positive side, Kemp's
office is energetically poin-
ting out the fact that the con-
gressman is now the object of
a massive postcard campaign
by Arab-American groups
who oppose his sponsorship of
a bill to close the PLO offices
in New York and Washington.
There are indications that the
Justice Department is about
to preempt this legislation by
ordering the Washington of-
fice of the PLO shut down,
but leaving the New York of-
fice open.
"We received more than 300
postcards last week," said
Marcy Robinson, a press aide
to Congressman Kemp and a
liaison to the Jewish com-
munity. "The PLO offices
here have organized a super-
slick advertising campaign
through a Washington public
relations firm, targeting Con-
gressman Kemp for his
leadership on the PLO issue!'
In the thick packet of infor-
mation mailed to supporters,
the Arab-American Anti-
Defamation League calls the

Kemp: Energetic

Kemp bill an attempt to
"delegitimize the PLO,"
Robinson said. The group has
also sent letters to the current
crop of presidential can-
didates, asking for their posi-
tions on the PLO closing.
"Obviously, this is intended
to be a litmus test of where
they stand," Robinson said.
She left no doubt about where
Mr. Kemp stood on the PLO
controversy.
In contrast to their chat-
tiness about the PLO issue,
Kemp's people have been
closed-mouthed . about
charges in a recent Jack
Anderson about an anti-
communist group that is
backing the conservative New
Yorker.
The Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of
Nations, Anderson reported,
was created after World War
II by exiles from countries
under Soviet domination. The
group is ferociously anti-
Communist; the problem is
that some of its members
have been linked to pro-Nazi
organizations during the war.
Kemp has publicly praised
the ABN; a letter from the
Congressman lauding their
accomplishments was read at
the groups annual meeting in
November, 1986, according to
the Jack Anderson report.
Kemp's office has declined
to respond to the charges or to
questions about the Anderson
article. Unofficially, there are
reports that the Congressman
wrote the letter praising the
ABN in response to a request
from a constituent — and
that he was unaware of the
controversy surrounding the
World War II activities some
of its founders.

What's In A Record?

One of the oldest debates in
town is cranking up again,
this time over Jewish support