Editorials

Editorials and Letters to the Editor are posted and archived on JN Online:
www.detroitjewishnews.com

Soft Money's Hard Lesson

T

here's a fairly simple rule for public
life: Don't do anything that would
embarrass you if it were reported
on the front page of the New York

Times.
In recent weeks, front-page stories in the
Times (and a lot of other places) have disclosed,
among other things, that Israeli President Ezer
Weizman took $453,000 in "gifts" from a French
business "friend" with operations in Israel; and
that former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl
had a multi-million-dollar political slush fund —
whose donors, he says, he is "honor-bound" not
to disclose.
Most recently, the Times reported that Ehud
Barak's Israel One party channeled millions of
shekels into phony "nonprofit organizations"
that reused the money to promote the party in
the last election. A scathing report last week by
the Israeli State Comptroller said Barak's clos-
est aides were "crudely grinding the law under-
foot" last year when they exploited a loophole
in campaign-financing laws.
It is saddening and maddening to find hon-
orable leaders taking dishonorable actions.
Somehow, the desire to win becomes the desire
to win at any cost. Remember former Presi-
dent Richard Nixon talking about buying the
silence of the Watergate burglars? "It would be
wrong, that's for sure," he said, "but it could
be done."
Part of the problem is the escalating costs of
campaigns. American politicians will spend an
estimated $3 billion this year — most of it for
television commercials — before Election Day
on the first Tuesday in November rolls around.
That money has to come from some place.
Surely, the candidates don't believe all that cash
is put up by people just for the greater good of
the country? As presidential candidates John
McCain and Bill Bradley have pointed out, the
massive "soft money" contributions, outside
the regular limits for giving, deeply undercut

IN FOCUS

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democratic principles and beliefs in an even-
handed government.
The loophole that Barak's campaign associ-
ates exploited is an intellectual first cousin to
the soft money exclusion here.
Before 1996, the parliamentary majority chose
the prime minister; the law strictly limited what a
party could collect and spend for Knesset candi-
dacies. But when the country went to the direct
election of its prime minister, the law was not
changed. One Israel officials said they read the
law to mean that presidential candidates were not
so strictly bound and channeled $1.2 million of
its overall $22 million into the unregulated "non-
profits."
Other political parties, including Likud,
Center Party, United Torah Judaism and Ysrael
Beteinu, did the same, butdon a much smaller
scale, which led to fines that were a small frac-
tion of the $3.2 million assessment against
One Israel.
We can't help wondering what role the
American political advisers played in this
aggressive end-run around Israel's campaign
laws. Perhaps the criminal investigation that
has been started will clarify that point; maybe
it will turn out that the imported spin-masters
had no role in this decision. It may also turn
out that Barak's claim that he didn't know
what was going on is true. It seems unlikely,
however, given the mounting evidence.
In any event, the affair — just like its coun-
terparts in the United States and Germany —
has already undercut belief in government.
That hampers Barak's ultimate ability to deal
with the important issues, such as how to
move the stalled peace talks with Syria or how
to revive the flagging economy. It's a pretty
high price to pay for taking advantage of a
loophole. ❑

Museum Of Memories

Incorporated into a student-run Holocaust education program
at Berkley High School is a museum of photos, videos and
authentic artifacts from the Holocaust. Books of remembrance,
below, are on display, include one donated by West Bloom-
field's Rene
Lichtman, a hid-
den child during
the Holocaust.
Lichtman says
the books
include "names
of those killed,
each one made
for specific
towns." A book
from the town
where his mother
lived in Poland was compiled by survivors later living in Paris.
Above, Berkley High School sophomore Emily Baker, a Holo-
caust curriculum committee member, holds a banner depicting
the various patches that Jews had to wear in different coun-
tries.

Quacks Like. A Duck

ut of respect for national sovereignty, we
won't say whether the European Union
countries should or should not agree to iso-
late Austria diplomatically now that Jorg
Haider, leader of the anti-immigrant Freedom Party,
has been asked to join the government.
By the same token, we suppose it is up to Aus-
tria's Social Democrats — who don't have an out-
right majority in the legislature — to decide if the
Freedom Party should be a coalition partner. We
strongly believe that sensible, informed people can
make their own decisions about who is or isn't a
Nazi based on the evidence.
In that spirit, the following are some of the
things that Haider has said, as reported by Reuters

0

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news service:
• "Our soldiers were not criminals; at most they
were victims." — October 1990 speech to a World
War II veterans' meeting, known to have drawn for-
mer SS officers.
• "In the Third Reich, they had an 'orderly' employ-
ment policy." — June 1991 statement to the
Carinthian provincial parliament; Haider later said
he regretted the remark but was forced to resign as
governor of the province.
• "There are still decent people of good character
who also stick to their convictions, despite the
greatest opposition, and have remained true to

their convictions until today." — September 1995
address to veterans, including Waffen SS mem-
bers.
• "The Waffen SS was a part of the Wehrmacht and
hence it deserves all the honor and respect of the
army in public life." — December 1995 television
interview.
And, lest we forget, Haider offered this analysis
to Austrian Jews, who he said might be fearful fol-
lowing his November 1999 election success:
"The very uniqueness and incomparability of the
crime of the Holocaust means Austrian politicians
must take such fears seriously."
Clearly, he is shaping his message for whichever
audience is before him. ❑

• A:

2/4

2000

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