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Jewish World Review August 1, 2000 / 29 Tamuz, 5760
The (Grand Old) Party Players
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
THESE DAYS, the number of Jewish Republicans is much higher
than in years past. Indeed, in the year 2000, Jews from across the
nation are supplying the Republican Party with big money, big
ideas and big names in public office.
Max Fisher, the “dean of Jewish Republicans,” has been heard to
say that there was a time when all the Jewish GOPers could
squeeze into a single phone booth.
A Detroit-area businessman, Fisher has been advising Republican
presidents since the days of Dwight D. Eisenhower. And, if Texas
Gov. George W. Bush is elected our next president, chances are
that Fisher may likely find himself an occasional guest in the Oval
Office.
In addition to playing a leading role in a whole alphabet of Jewish
organizations — including the American Jewish Committee, B’nai
B’rith International, the Council of Jewish Federations, the Jewish
Agency for Israel and the United Jewish Appeal — Fisher founded
the Republican Jewish Coalition in 1985 to provide a voice for the
growing circle of Jewish activists in the Republican Party.
Not surprisingly, the RJC leadership includes some of the biggest
Jewish donors in the Grand Old Party.
RJC Honorary Chairman Mel Sembler, a shopping-center developer
who lives in St. Petersburg, Fla., is the national finance chairman
of the Republican National Committee. Sembler served on the
national finance and steering committee for the elder George
Bush’s successful presidential campaign in 1988, and later served
as the United States ambassador to Australia and Nauru from 1989
to 1993. He joined the younger George Bush on his first trip to
Israel in 1998.
Ambassador Sembler and Sam Fox, a St. Louis developer, were
the chief organizers of Gala 2000, an RNC fundraiser held in April
at the Washington, D.C., Armory. The event brought in a reported
$21.3 million, smashing the old record for a single political
fundraiser by more than $7 million. Fox, one of Bush’s “Missouri
Pioneers,” had already given $275,000 of soft money to the RNC
from his own pocket in 1999, according to Common Cause, a
nonpartisan group that tracks campaign donations.
Another Gala 2000 co-chairman is Lawrence Kadish, an RJC vice
chairman and a real estate developer in New York and Florida. As
a gala co-chairman, Kadish has donated or is committed to raising
$250,000 for the RNC this year. Judging by the amount he gave the
RNC last year — $265,000, according to Common Cause — that
number seems well within his capacity.
Other RJC leaders, Honorary President George Klein and National
Chair Cheryl Halpern, are also big-time donors to the Republican
parties in New York and New Jersey, respectively.
MORE THAN FUNDRAISERS
There is also Frank Luntz, a leading political analyst and pollster
for the Republican Party and its candidates. He was the pollster of
record for the 1994 Republican “Contract With America,” the
campaign that helped the party gain a House majority for the first
time in 42 years.
No list of Jewish Republican players would be complete without
former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has continued to
offer advice on foreign policy and arms control decades after his
service in the Nixon and Ford administrations. As the chief rabbi of
American foreign policy from 1969 to 1977, Kissinger originated the
concept of shuttle diplomacy as he pursued peace between the
Arab nations and Israel, and he earned the 1973 Nobel Peace
Prize for his negotiations with Vietnam. Only two months ago, he
backed up George W. Bush when the presidential candidate called
for a large-scale missile-defense system to protect the United
States and its allies.
PUBLIC SERVANTS
U.S. Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman has represented the 20th district of
New York, which spans Rockland County and parts of Orange,
Sullivan and Westchester counties, for almost 30 years. Since
1994, he has served as the chairman of the House International
Relations Committee, providing congressional oversight to the
nation’s foreign policy, including facilitation of the Middle East
peace process.
Former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer is making an effort to win back New
Jersey’s 12th congressional district, which he served for three
terms starting in 1990. In 1996, Zimmer stepped down from his
seat to campaign for the U.S. Senate. As the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency noted at the time, party leaders supported Zimmer’s
candidacy, in part, because he was Jewish, “but when the votes
were counted, his opponent, [U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli], received
almost 80 percent of the Jewish vote.”
Another out-of-office Jewish Republican who remains in the public
eye is U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz of Minnesota. During his two
terms in office, Boschwitz earned a reputation as a strong
supporter of Israel, defending the Jewish state after it bombed an
Iraqi nuclear facility in 1981, and voting against the sale of AWACS
to Saudi Arabia the same year. In 1990, he lost his Senate seat to
Jewish Democrat Paul Wellstone, but his name remains in the
spotlight and was bandied about last year for the post of cheif
executive officer of the United Jewish Communities.
And, of course, no list of important Jewish Republicans would be
complete without Pennsylvania’s own U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter. The
man certainly walks to the beat of his own drum, from his
friendship with deceased Syrian dictator Hafez Assad to his “not
proven” vote during the impeachment of President Clinton. However,
the fourth-term senator still has clout when he chairs the Veterans’
Affairs Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor,
Health and Human
By Brian Mono
Jewish Republicans are not just about big-dollar figures, but also
about big ideas. Matthew Brooks, a former Philadelphian and an
RJC executive director since 1990, is a regular contributor to the
opinion pages of Jewish publications across the country —
including this one — offering a conservative alternative
to the typical liberal fare.
Finally, some Jewish Republicans have become prominent figures
by serving in the U.S. Congress — although few of them have had
an easy time garnering a majority of the Jewish vote come election
time.
Brian Mono writes for the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. Comment by clicking here.
