Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, August 2008, page 26

Election Watch

Pro-Israel PACs: Disguises and Permutations

By Janet McMahon

IT HAS OFTEN been noted in these pages that the vast majority of pro-Israel political action committees (PACs) have misleadingly innocuous names. Indeed, of the 35 such PACs identified by the esteemed Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) on its Web site, <www.opensecrets.org>, and listed on p. 24 of the November 2004 Washington Report, only four contain the words “Israel” or “Jewish.” Far more typical are such monikers as “Americans for Good Government,” “National PAC” (the largest) and “Desert Caucus.” A constituent interested in finding out who contributes to his or her representative would not readily conclude that these innocent names represent the long arm of the Israel lobby.

We recently received a call from an Iowa reader whose congressman, Democrat David Loebsack, adamantly denied having received any contributions from pro-Israel PACs. So we checked our records and saw that Loebsack had received the $2,000 in question from the (Rep. Howard) Berman for Congress PAC. While CRP categorized this as a “leadership PAC,” we think Berman put it best himself: “Even before I was a Democrat, I was a Zionist,” he told the Jewish weekly The Forward (see the “Other Voices” supplement to the July 2008 Washington Report). Since we strongly doubt that Berman’s California-based PAC would have contributed to Loebsack’s campaign had the Iowa Democrat taken the same positions as, for example, Rep. Dennis Kuchinich (D-OH), we’ll continue to count Berman for Congress as a pro-Israel PAC.

J Street PAC

There’s been much buzz about the new J Street lobby and its “independent, legally unconnected” political action committee, JStreetPAC. Intended to counter the rightward, Likudist tilt of the behemoth American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), J Street offers itself as another way to be pro-Israel. Under the banner “Americans for Middle East Peace and Security,” it explains on its Web site, <jstreet.org>, “J Street represents Americans, primarily but not exclusively Jewish, who support Israel and its desire for security as the Jewish homeland, as well as the right of the Palestinians to a sovereign state of their own—two states living side-by-side in peace and security.”

Through its PAC, J Street accepts recommendations for endorsements and allows those interested to contribute directly to those candidates it decides to endorse. As of mid-June, JStreetPAC had endorsed seven candidates: Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA), who received $2,000 in “traditional” pro-Israel PAC contributions in 2006, for a career total of $8,000; Darcy Burner (D-WA), who is challenging Republican incumbent Dave Reichert, and who so far has received $500 to Reichert’s $5,500; Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), who as of April 15 had received $4,000 for this year’s election, with a career total of $7,000; Donna Edwards, who defeated incumbent Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD) in the “Potomac Primary” earlier this year, and who as of April 15 had received no pro-Israel PAC contributions, compared to Wynn’s $15,500 and career total $25,750; Debbie Halvorson, an Illinois Democrat running for Gerald Weller’s open seat, and who as of April 15 had received $2,500 in pro-Israel PAC contributions; Ohio Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy, a candidate for the seat being vacated by Republican Deborah Pryce, and who as of April 15 has raised $2,000 for this year’s race, for a career total of $7,000 (having almost upset Pryce in 2006), compared to Pryce’s $30,000 in 2006 and career total of $31,500; and blind New Jersey Rabbi Dennis Shulman, who is challenging Republican incumbent Scott Garrett. Perhaps hedging their bet, as of April 15 pro-Israel PACs had made contributions to neither candidate, but gave $12,500 to Garrett in 2006, for a career total of $27,200.

We took the opportunity of attending a Capitol Hill hearing (see p. 61) at which Dr. John Mearsheimer was a panelist to ask him if, as a researcher, he would find it misleading if JStreetPAC were included among the other pro-Israel PACs. “Not at all!” replied the co-author of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy—and that’s good enough for us.

Janet McMahon is managing editor of the Washington Report.