POWER
flung regional network into its profes-
sional lobbying operation in Washington.
The result was a kind of intensive politi-
cal education for thousands of Jewish ac-
tivists around the country — as well as a
reaffirmation of the central place of
Washington in the Jewish agenda.
But the Washington presence of Jewish
lobbyists who also focused on other
issues has also enhanced the pro-Israel
effort.
"The fact that we have built political
relationships based on a variety of issues
gives us added credibility when we go in
and fight for aid to Israel," said Mark
Pelavin, Washington representative for
the American Jewish Congress. "We're
not seen as a single-issue group."
Turf Wars
T
he tilt toward Washington has not
been universally applauded.
Some Jewish activists, while
praising the general trend, warn of an over-
emphasis on Washington that hurts grass-
roots Jewish involvement.
"Jewish political influence has always
been a kind of integrated involvement in
politics at the local and regional level," said
Earl Raab, director of Brandeis Universi-
ty's Nathan Perlmutter Institute for Jew-
ish Advocacy.
"But there's been a tendency in recent
years to say that all we have to do is go to
Washington. There's been a little less em-
phasis in getting Jews involved at the local
and regional level:'
Leaders of some New York-based orga-
nizations also complain about what they
see as a willingness on the part of their
Washington counterparts to quickly
compromise ideals for the sake of prag-
matism.
They argue that many of the capital-
based lobbyists are disconnected from
the core of American Jewish culture.
Unlike Washington, Jewish activism in
more traditional New York is far more
ideologically rooted.
Washington Jewish activists generally
do not deny this.
"People down here tend to confront day
in and day out the realities of coalition
politics," said Rabbi David Saperstein,
director of the Religious Action Center of
Reform Judaism and a veteran of Wash-
ington's political wars.
"One of those realities is the need to
sometimes subsume your own voice to be
an effective player. In New York, they
tend to give slightly more emphasis to
the organizational leadership challenge —
the need to be a distinctive voice on an
issue," he said.
Larry Rubin, executive vice president
of the National Jewish Community Rela-
tions Advisory Council, agreed: "The
people in New York are more ideological.
In Washington, there's much more of an
emphasis on political pragmatism."
In a period when most organizations
are retrenching and some are threatened
with financial collapse, there is also a feel-
ing that Washington offices are an eco-
nomic luxury.
"With the entire Jewish world facing
some pretty dramatic belt tightening, it's
an open question whether or not we can
afford two 'capitals,' one in Washington
and one in New York," said the director
of a major New York-based organization.
He declined to be identified.
Moreover, some New York officials
argue that government funding power
has been shifting back to the states ever
since the opening shots of the Reagan
Revolution. This means, they maintain,
that shrinking dollars are better spent at
the state house level.
But some of the resistance to Washing-
ton clearly stems from turf issues. Some
say the New York Jewish establishment
is afraid of losing control of the policy
making process.
"It really is a question of who controls
the agenda," said Mr. Rubin. "The people
in Washington, because of where they're
located, have the jump on identifying im-
portant public affairs issues before they
become hot. The New York folks get ner-
vous that the Washington people, having
identified the problems, will begin
developing policy."
"The New York offices, including some
of my own colleagues, are furious about
the degree of power invested in the Wash-
ington representatives," said one top
Jewish agency official.
"They don't like it when the New York
Times calls the Washington representa-
tive for a quote on a national issue. They
hate it when a senator's office calls the
Washington office for input on a bill, and
ignores the people in New York."
Inter-group rivalries have also been ex-
acerbated by the shift of power to Wash-
ington. Some of these tensions boiled
over recently when NJCRAC hired a
part-time Washington consultant — the
first step in what many regarded_ as
NJCRAC's long-term effort to open a
capital office.
The move produced howls of outrage
from the three most influential groups
under NJCRAC's umbrella — the Ameri-
can Jewish Congress, the American Jew-
ish Committee and the Anti-Defamation
League.
The dissenters complained that
NJCRAC was already well served by the
three agencies, all of whom have their
own Washington offices and who have
traditionally served as NJCRAC's capital
"eyes and ears." They argued that
NJCRAC's presence in Washington was
a duplication of services and a waste of
money, and that running any kind of
Washington operation was outside the
"Having a
Washington office
provides us with
accurate and
timely information
about what is
happening in
government:'
—Henry Siegman
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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