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Washington Watch

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No (Six-Pointed) Stars

Cabinet diversity, congressional lineup,
applause for Rumsfeld, rising star.

JAMES D. BESSER

Washington Correspondent

Washington

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s promised, the cabinet of
President-elect George W.
Bush is looking like one of
the most diverse in history.
But that diversity apparently has its
limits.
The cabinet will include a Japanese
American Democrat, a Hispanic, an
Arab American and several African
Americans, but no Jews.
But former Indianapolis Mayor
Stephen Goldsmith, a close Bush
adviser, is expected to be appointed
to a new White House office of
faith-based initiatives.
And Jewish Republicans point out
that Josh Bolten, named last week as
Bush's top policy adviser, is Jewish, as
is the incoming White House
spokesman, Ari Fleischer.
The Arab American in the nascent
Bush cabinet is former Sen. Spencer
Abraham (R-Mich.), who was defeated
in his bid for a second term on Nov. 7.
Abraham, tapped to be energy secre-
tary, is unlikely to stir much opposi-
tion.
More controversial will be Tuesday's
appointment of Linda Chavez as labor
secretary.
Chavez, a former director of the
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights dur-
ing the Reagan administration and an
unsuccessful Senate candidate from
Maryland, currently serves as president
of the Center for Equal Opportunity,
a group that opposes affirmative
action and bilingual education.
Ira Forman, executive director of the
partisan National Jewish Democratic
Council, slammed Chavez as a "con-
servative ideologue. Given the perfect-
ly divided electorate and Gov. Bush's
own rhetoric about 'uniting' and 'heal-
ing,' this is not the time to be
appointing right-wing firebrands."
And, he added, "America's workers
will clearly not appreciate having a
labor secretary who has argued against
a common-sense increase in the mini-
mum wage."
Chavez — who is married to Chris
Gersten, the former executive director of
the Republican Jewish Coalition — will
generate intense debate during confir-

mation hearings, but few observers
expect her nomination to be quashed.
Meanwhile, the selection of former
Sen. John Ashcroft as attorney general is
putting Jewish groups in a bind.
Only one Jewish group -- the
National Council of Jewish Women —
has formally come out against the nomi-
nation. But several others that tradition-
ally do not take positions on executive-
branch nominations are considering
jumping into the fray, in part because
they are feeling the heat from their coali-
tion partners in the areas of civil rights,
abortion and church-state separation.
Leaders of these groups promise an
all-out fight against Ashcroft, and they
want the Jews at their side.
"He is a very polarizing figure who is
generating some very passionate opposi-
don," said an official with a Jewish
group that has not taken an official posi-
tion on Ashcroft. "It could be hard to sit
on the sidelines in this fight."

Congressional Lineup

Members of the 107th Congress were
sworn in this week, setting the stage for
what most Jewish lobbyists say will be
one of the most contentious and diffi-
cult legislative sessions in recent history.
"It is possibility they will move toward
the center and try to work things out on
a number of issues," said Richard Foltin,
legislative director of the American
Jewish Committee. "But its even likelier
we'll see perpetual gridlock as both the
majority and the minority allow their
agendas to be dictated by the most ideo-
logical wings of their parties."
President-elect George W. Bush has
promised to make sweeping education
initiatives his first priority, and that
will be reflected in the congressional
to-do list.
This week, there were reports that
Bush, facing strong opposition from
education groups and most Democrats,
will not make school vouchers a major
part of his education initiative. The
Bush transition team denied those
reports, and Republican leaders on
Capitol Hill indicated that vouchers for
parochial and private school parents will
continue to be a top priority, especially
because they will no longer face a certain
veto from the White House.
Congressional Republicans are expect-
ed to ratchet up their efforts to pass

