INSIDE WASHINGTON
Huge Federal Deficit
Is High Stakes For Jews
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
C
ongress has finally
fled Washington after
weeks of squabbling
over a plan to reduce the
huge federal budget deficit
— a high-stakes game for
Jewish organizations.
Concern centered on two
areas. The first involved
such major questions as
Israel's $3 billion in foreign
aid and millions of dollars in
matching grants for Soviet
emigres in this country.
Despite a few scares, all of
those programs survived the
ferocious budget wrangling
— despite efforts by Sen.
Robert Byrd (D-WV) to
derail some of the military
drawdown provisions that
allow the administration to
transfer military equipment
from U.S. inventories to
Israel.
But another area of con-
cern centered on how the tax
provisions of the complex
package would affect Jewish
organizations.
Since the budget
"summit" between Congress
and the administration con-
vened this summer, there
were proposals to cap the
amount taxpayers could
claim for all deductions —in-
cluding deductions for chari-
table deductions.
"This was a very
dangerous proposal, from
our point of view," said
Ellen Witman of the Council
of Jewish Federations Wash-
ington office. "It would have
had a terrible impact on a
variety of voluntary organ-
izations — a problem that
would have been compound-
ed by the nation's economic
situation."
After opposition by a broad
coalition of religious and
non-profit groups, Congress
eventually accepted a three
percent floor instead of a five
percent cap.
If that sounds confusing, it
was for members of Con-
gress, as well.
"What it basically means
is that the first three percent
of itemized deductions for
income over $100,000 is not
deductible," said Ms. Wit-
man, one of few people in
town to actually understand
the proposal. "In other
words, for people who make
this level of income, three
percent of their itemized
deductions will no longer be
deductible."
This, she said, could have a
psychological impact on
givers. Still, Ms. Witman
and other Jewish activists
here were pleased with the
result of all the last-minute
bargaining.
"A cap on deductions
would have killed us," she
said. "This won't; it's not go-
ing to cripple campaigns. So
in a way it's a victory. But at
the same time it's a bad
precedent."
Sobering Message
Issued By Ex-Racist
In a week that saw former-
white supremacist leader
David Duke in the Senate
gallery cheering President
Bush's veto of the Civil
Rights bill, Tom Martinez
gave Jewish activists here a
particularly sobering mes-
sage.
Mr. Martinez, a former
hate-group leader and asso-
ciate of Mr. Duke, spoke to
the young leadership
assembly of the Anti-
Defamation League in
Washington.
"My major message is
this," said Mr. Martinez,
who eventually turned away
from hate groups and
became an FBI informant.
"It's difficult to convince
people that these hate
groups are real. They may
not hurt you, but they'll hurt
your children and your
grandchildren if you don't
start educating people now."
Mr. Martinez became in-
volved with hate groups in
his lower-income
Philadelphia neighborhood,
working as an organizer for
Mr. Duke. Later, Mr. Mar-
tinez switched loyalties to
the neo-Nazi National Alli-
ance and later still, to "The
Order," a group that took
the neo-Nazi philosophy to
its natural conclusion — to
outright terrorism.
Why did these groups ex-
ert such a strong pull on Mr.
Martinez?
"I have to be honest," he
said. "I was basically in-
volved to feel part of some-
thing. Where does a person
like me go with his anger,
his feeling that nobody cares
about him? That's what
David Duke is all about."
But Mr. Martinez's hate-
crimes career came to a
crashing halt the next year,
when he was caught by fed-
eral authorities.
He decided to cooperate
with the authorities. "I
never copped a deal," he
said. "I testified; I made up
my mind in 1985 that I was
going to do something
positive with my life."
That year, Mr. Martinez
walked into the offices of the
Anti-Defamation League in
Philadelphia, beginning an
association that continues to
this day.
"I had a full-time job at the
time, and I'd speak to
various groups on weekends,
at night. In 1988 I began do-
ing it full-time. Now I do a
lot for high schools, Jewish
organizations, law-
enforcement groups."
What is the solution to the
growing problem of hate
groups? Mr. Martinez did
not hesitate before answer-
ing. "It's education," he
said. "We need better cur-
ricula. We need to see more
children — Jewish, gentile,
black, white — doing more
together in school. I per-
sonally never knew a Jew; I
just knew the stereotypes. If
you did a survey, you'd find
that a lot of Christian people
have never met Jews. The
only answer is education —
kids getting to know one an-
other, kids having fun doing
it."
No Changes
For S. Africa
Representatives of the
South African Jewish com-
munity have been quietly
meeting with Jewish ac-
tivists here, looking for sup-
port for an end to U.S. sanc-
tions against the Pretoria
government.
But so far, they have not
found any takers.
In particular, Harry
Schwartz, a leading member
of the South African Board
of Deputies, has been soun-
ding out the Jewish com-
munity about the possibility
of some help in their push to
cancel U.S. sanctions as a
reward for the progress.
"The talks were friendly,"
said a source close to the
discussions. "But the Jewish
groups here took the position
that there is currently no
compelling reason to divert
from our current posi-
tion." El
Worried About
Civil Rights Veto
Last week's veto of the
Civil Rights Act of 1990 and
the Senate's narrow failure
to override the veto
dismayed a number of Jew-
ish activists.
And the presidential veto,
they argue, may have
implications that go well
beyond the series of
Supreme Court decisions on
job discrimination that the
bill was meant to remedy.
In fact, the president's
hard-nosed position on the
civil rights measure may be
another sign of the kind of
anti-minority backlash that
may be the top political story
in the next few years.
"The David Dukes will
glory in this veto," said Rep.
Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.). "I'm
very concerned about how
this may affect conflict bet-
ween minorities in general.
The president is siding with
the David Dukes of the
world."
Ms. Lowey argued that
Congress had addressed
most of the initial concerns
of the administration; the
veto, she suggested, was
more of a political signal
than an action based on the
bill's content.
"I think this is very
dangerous," she said. "It's a
grim day in the history of
the civil rights movement,
and it's a grim day for wo-
men and for all minorities in
this country."
Even in the last moments
of the unsuccessful veto
override attempt, the Jewish
community played a highly
visible role.
Rep. Lowey:
"Dukes will glory."
Civil rights groups
targeted several senators for
special attention, including
Sen. Rudy Boschwitz (R-
Minn.).
The Religious Action
Center of Reform Judaism, a
branch of the Union of
American Hebrew Con-
gregations, contacted every
Reform rabbi and many
Conservative rabbis in Min-
nesota about the veto over-
ride attempt. The result was
a blizzard of phone calls to
Mr. Boschwitz.
Mr. Boschwitz, who is
locked in a difficult re-
election battle, eventually
changed his vote and sup-
ported the override — but
only after it was clear that
the measure would not suc-
ceed.
Mail Call From
Folks Back Home
When diners sat down at
the annual banquet of the
Jewish Institute for Nation-
al Security Affairs (JINSA)
on Monday, they found
unusual centerpieces: stacks
of letters for U.S. service
personnel in Saudi Arabia.
The more than 350 guests,
including a number of
prominent legislators and
military officials, were ask-
ed to fill out the form letters
and add personal notes for
the soldiers.
"Basically, we just
thought it would be nice to
take advantage of the fact
that we had all these people
in a room," said Shoshana
Bryen, the group's executive
director. "Imagine how sur-
prised some of these people
will be when they get letters
from senators, or from
Jeanne Kirkpatrick."
JINSA also took the occa-
sion to honor Sen. Connie
Mack (R-Fla.) with its Henry
Jackson Distinguished Ser-
vice Award, which is given
annually to officials who
work for JINSA's guiding
principals — a combination
of support for a strong
military establishment in
this country, and strong
U.S.- Israeli military ties.
Morrie Amitay, the dean of
pro-Israel lobbyists and a
longtime JINSA activist,
received the group's leader-
ship award for his service to
the group.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
33