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This Week
Faith-Based Cast
Choices on charity; voucher slide; making
connections; minyan on the Hill.
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
his week's White House
event spotlighting
President George W. Bush's
ambitious plan for expand-
ing the role of faith-based charities in
providing services — and expanding
their ability to get government money
without onerous restrictions —
included representatives of a number
of religious communities.
But Jewish representation at the
event was thin — and there were some
interesting exclusions.
Attending the events were Orthodox
Union President Harvey Blitz, Rabbi
Abraham Twerski of the Gateway Rehab
Center in Pittsburgh and Cheryl
Halpern, national chair of the Republican
Jewish Coalition, .a partisan group.
But Agudath Israel of America,
which has been one of the most active
supporters of various charitable choice
plans, was not invited.
Marvin Olasky was luckier. The
University of Texas journalism profes-
sor — the father of Bush's "Compas-
sionate conservatism" and a Jew
turned Evangelical Christian — has
been largely invisible to the national
press since the November election, but
he surfaced at Monday's event, and
Jewish Democrats pounced on that.
"It is most appropriate that Mr.
Olasky, an individual who clearly does
not believe- the Constitution mandates
the separation of church and state,
should be associated with the rollout
of a program that represents a true
threat to that separation," said Ira
Forman, executive director of the
National Jewish Democratic Council.
In the past, Olasky has drawn fire
from Jewish groups for arguing that the
Constitution does not mandate church-
state separation and for his conservative
views on the role of women.
Voucher Slide
A week ago, school vouchers were at
the top of President George W. Bush's
ambitious list of new educational pri-
orities. But over the weekend, Bush
signaled what several experts predicted
last week — that he would be flexible
on the controversial proposals to help
parents who send their children to pri-
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Washington Watch
vate and parochial schools.
In his first weekly radio address,
Bush last Saturday conceded that there
are "some honest differences of opin-
ion in Congress about what form
these options should take. Others sug-
gest different approaches, and I'm will-
ing to listen."
John Green, a University of Akron
political scientist who predicted that
vouchers would be the first part of
Bush's sweeping education package to
go, said that the apparent shift reflect-
ed Bush's real priorities.
"It tells us that he really is very com-
mitted to getting something done in
the area of education — and that he's
much more committed to standards
and testing than to vouchers," he said.
And including vouchers in the first
place was in large measure a political
gambit intended to keep religious conser-
vatives lined up behind him, Green said.
"It was a shrewd political move," he
said. "He got a lot of credit from the
religious conservatives for including
vouchers in the first place — and now
he gets credit with the liberals for
being so flexible."
A leading voucher supporter said he
is not worried by Bush's comments.
"I don't think the president has
given up on vouchers," said Marshall
Breger, a law professor at the Catholic
University of America. "But his first
concern is the children; whatever way
we can get help to the children who
need it the most, that's the way we
should go."
Making Connections
The Bush White House is getting set
to name a new official liaison to the
Jewish community.
The lucky guy who will get to work
with demanding Jewish leaders is
Adam Goldman, a Houston native
and University of Texas graduate who
worked for President George W. Bush
in the governor's office and then ran
the Bush presidential campaign in
Texas.
Goldman, according to several
Republican sources, grew up in a
Jewishly involved family.
At the Department of State, it's all
but official: Richard Armitage, a
Pentagon official during the Reagan and
WASHINGTON WATCH on page 24