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L7;
to maintain his personal be-
liefs, and yet function fully as
a senator. It can't be easy —
but he makes it easy."
True, he's still only a third
of the way into his initial six-
year Senate term. But Sen.
Lieberman says he does not
mind the breakneck pace or
the difficult burdens on his
personal life that a Senate
career entails.
"I do enjoy it," he said in
a recent interview in his
Senate office. "I honestly
find every day interesting. I
really believe in trying to af-
fect society through law.
This is something I was
taught — the whole role of
the law in Jewish life. We
learn at Shavuot the idea
that Israel did not really be-
come a nation at the Exo-
dus, it became a nation with
the giving of the law."
Joseph Lieberman defies
neat political categories. He
is generally regarded as a
conservative Democrat with
_ a strong independent streak.
His dramatic 1988 victory
over Senate veteran Lowell
Weicker, a Republican liber-
al, created an intriguing
kind of partisan role rever-
sal.
While liberal Jewish activ-
ists fervently hoped for a
Weicker victor•,, Mr.
Lieberman was actively
supported by William F.
Buckley Jr., the personifica-
tion of East Coast, WASP
conservatism. And in an-
other twist, pro-Israel polit-
ical action committees sup-
ported Mr. Weicker; prag-
matic to the core, PACs are
more impressed by in-
cumbency than a candi-
date's Jewish credentials.
Personally, Mr. Lieber-
man is even less susceptible
to simple classification. In
both appearance and de-
meanor, he fits none of the
current senatorial ar-
chetypes. His somewhat
cherubic face and thinning,
curly hair defy the television
anchorman image currently
popular on Capitol Hill. He
is a slight man with an al-
most demure style. It's dif-
ficult to imagine him slap-
ping backs or bullying wit-
nesses.
In keeping with this style,
he has chosen to work his
way up the Senate hierarchy
the old-fashioned way by
concentrating on a few
issues —environmental pro-
tection, economic growth
and international terrorism
— and by trying to convince
colleagues that he works
hard and can be relied on.
"Environmental protec-
tion is something I was in-
volved with as (Connecticut)
attorney general and as a
state senator," said Mr.
Lieberman, who as a newly
minted senator introduced
strong oil spill liability
legislation in the wake of the
Alaska Exxon Valdez disas-
ter. "It was fortunate for me
that when I arrived here,
there happened to be a grow-
ing national consensus that
we had to do something to
fix the environment."
Sen. Lieberman says
his Orthodox views
have shaped his
conservative approach
to law and order.
In the area of economic
growth and competi-
tiveness, he introduced an
unusual number of bills for a
freshman senator — in-
cluding a major economic
growth package that covers
everything from capital
gains tax credits to a
"business IRA," a creative
approach to encouraging re-
investment in equipment
and training.
He has also led the charge
for more government in-
volvement in the business
sector.
"In Japan, the govern-
ment helps business grow,"
he said. "Ours doesn't. For
us to cling to 19th Century
economic rhetoric while try-
ing to compete in the 20th
Century is a major mis-
take."
But where he has truly
made his mark so far has
been in the area of terrorism
and international security.
Speaking before Saddam
Hussein's conquest of Ku-
wait, his words had an al-
most prophetic quality.
"In this period after the
Cold War, the greatest
threat to American society
will come from unstable
Third World countries and
terrorists. So I see this as an
absolutely critical issue that
we have to confront," Mr.
Lieberman said.
One result of this interest
is an ongoing series of in-
formal Capitol Hill discus-
sions on terrorism among a
number of senators, admin-
istration officials and out-
side experts in the field.
But his proudest achieve-
ment, he said, was the "PLO
compliance act," a measure
that sought to force the ad-
ministration to publicly re-
port on its dialogue with the
Palestine Liberation Orga-
nization.
When the attempted ter-
rorist raid on a Tel Aviv
beach in May revived the
issue of whether Yassir Ara-
fat was living up to his
promises to Washington,
Mr. Lieberman introduced
additional legislation to im-
mediately terminate the
U.S.-PLO dialogue. The
proposed legislation was one
factor in the administra-
tion's decision to cut off the
talks.
"His leadership in these
efforts was particularly sig-
nificant," said Malcolm
Hoenlein, executive director
of the Conference of Presi-
dents of Major American
Jewish Organizations. "He
has quickly established him-
self as a respected member
of the Senate, and he has de-
veloped a reputation for ex-
pertise in the area of terror-
ism. His advocacy on these
measures was seen in this
light, and he was able to
garner considerable sup-
port."
Since his arrival in the
Senate, Mr. Lieberman has
seen significant erosion in
the level of support for Isra-
el. However, he does not see
a wholesale defection from
Israel's cause.
Rating The Senator:
Lieberman In The Middle
One measure of Sen.
Joseph I. Lieberman's
adroitness as a politician
is his ability to stick close
to the political center
while still managing to
speak his mind on issues
of particular importance
to him.
This is reflected in the
ratings systems used by a
number of special interest
groups to evaluate legis-
lators. Sen. Lieberman's
voting record wins quali-
fied support from both
liberals and conserva-
tives.
In February, the liberal
Americans for Democrat-
ic Action awarded him a
score of 75 out of a possi-
ble 100. The rating was
based on 20 key Senate
votes, including 11 do-
mestic issues and 9 for-
eign policy and military
issues.
Sen. Lieberman's rat-
ing was the same as that
given Sen. Daniel Patrick
Moynihan (D-N.Y.). Sen.
Barbara Mikulski and
Sen. Paul Sarbanes, both
Maryland Democrats, re-
ceived scores of 90 and
85, respectively.
Arch-conservative Sen.
Jesse Helms (R-N.C.)
came in with a rating of 5.
The American Civil
Liberties Union was less
enthusiastic about Sen.
Lieberman. A 1989 pre-
liminary rating showed
that Sen. Lieberman
voted with the civil liber-
ties group on 5 of 10
issues. Sen. Edward Ken-
nedy (D-Mass.) voted the
ACLU way on 8 of 10
votes; Sen. Helms, the
group's Senate nemesis,
"I think about this a lot,
and I have had conversa-
tions with others in the Sen-
ate," he said. "On the most
objective level — the ques-
tion of votes, signatures on
letters, and this sort of thing
— I would say that support
for Israel remains strong.
But underneath I sense a
certain amount of grumbl-
ing, a certain amount of
uneasiness about what is
perceived as not enough
openness to negotiations by
managed to vote against
the ACLU on all 10
issues.
All the way on the other
end of the political spec-
trum, the American Con-
servative Union rated
Sen. Lieberman near the
top of the Democratic
heap, with a score of 32 on
a 100 point scale — way
ahead of Sen. Edward
Kennedy, the benchmark
against which conserva-
tives evaluate liberal poli-
ticians. Mr. Kennedy
weighed in on the ACU
scale with a mere 7
points. The average score
for Democratic senators
in the Northeast was 11.
"Our ratings show he
voted more like a South-
ern Democrat," said a
spokesman for the orga-
nization. "In fact, his rat-
ing was very close to the
average for Southern
Democrats."
The ACU score was
based on some 25 key
issues, including the vote
to cut the capital gains
tax and death penalty
legislation.
Sen. Lieberman con-
siders himself an envi-
ronmental activist, an
assessment supported by
the rating of the League
of Conservation Voters.
The environmental group
gave him a perfect 100 for
the 1989 legislative year,
based on 10 key votes.
Curiously, 3 of the 10
senators to win perfect
scores are Jewish —Sen.
Lieberman, Sen. Herb
Kohl (D-Wis.) and Sen.
Howard Metzenbaum (D-
Ohio).111
— James D. Besser
the Israeli government.
"It's something to be con-
cerned about. And yet, there
still is much more of a sense
of common history and
common purpose with Israel
than with the Arab coun-
tries. It seems to be that the
comfortable position for a
majority of members of the
Senate is to support Israel.
It's culturally, historically,
politically comfortable.
They've grumbled lately be-
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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