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Making of a Jewish Candidate

What makes a Jewish candidate Jewish? Is it enough simply to be a member of the tribe, or does the term require a certain degree of commitment to Jewish culture, causes and teachings?
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September 28, 2000

What makes a Jewish candidate Jewish? Is it enough simply to be a member of the tribe, or does the term require a certain degree of commitment to Jewish culture, causes and teachings?

Some public officials fit very neatly into the category of “Jewish.” Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Rep. Brad Sherman immediately come to mind, as does a certain vice-presidential candidate. On the local level, the list is long – on the City Council alone there are Laura Chick, Joel Wachs, Michael Feuer, Hal Bernson and Jackie Goldberg. Of all the elected officials, however, Yaroslavsky and Sherman have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the community, appearing at Jewish Federation and other agency events and throwing their support behind community interests including education and hate crime prevention. Like the council members, both are also what one would call openly Jewish – they have never sought to hide their heritage.

Then there are Jewish candidates who, although not actually Jewish, are so supportive of the community’s interests that they are considered one of ours. County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, whose district includes Granada Hills and portions of Chatsworth, Canoga Park and the city of Los Angeles, was recently lauded by Jewish leaders in the North Valley for helping to get an eruv put in place. Los Angeles City Councilmember Cindy Miscikowski has also been cited as a supporter of Jewish causes, as has Antonio Villaraigosa, Assembly speaker emeritus and candidate for Los Angeles mayor in 2001 – in part due to his past friendship with current Speaker Robert Hertzberg, another well-known Jewish legislator.

Villaraigosa’s reputation with the community could prove instrumental, especially if he is perceived as a candidate who is “good for the Jewish community” alongside others vying for the mayoral position, like Wachs and businessman Steve Soboroff. With Yaroslavsky out, the race is wide open, and the Jewish community will likely provide the swing vote to usher in the next leader of Los Angeles.

“The challenge for our community today is whether to support someone who’s Jewish or someone who’s good for the community. That’s going to be a key to many races in the future,” observes Scott Svonkin, public policy chair for B’nai B’rith of Southern California. “There are a lot of elected officials who show up at synagogues and events, but only a handful of those will really go to the mat on issues like fighting for saving the Breed Street Shul, fighting for funding for Jewish agencies or standing up to NIMBYs in order to allow for the expansion of a museum or synagogue. That’s how we know who our friends are and who are just Jewish by birth.”

Which brings us to the interesting question of party affiliation. For many years, it was assumed that all Jewish candidates were Democrats. However, since the days of the Reagan Democrats and following the wave of conservatism that swept through the country in the early 1990s, Jewish Republicans have been making their presence known. According to the 1997 survey compiled by demographer Pini Herman for The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, 11 percent of the 382,000 Jewish voters surveyed identified themselves as Republicans; about 15 percent of the total survey considered themselves either conservative or very conservative in their political views.

Reflecting this trend is Jayne Murphy Shapiro, an Encino resident who is running for the state Assembly seat in the 41st District being vacated by Sheila Kuehl. Shapiro is a member of the National Executive Committee of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a former chair of The Jewish Federation Valley Alliance’s Women’s Division, a major fundraiser for Abraham Heschel Day School and, among other appointments, currently serves as Mayor Richard Riordan’s appointee to the Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women.

Shapiro said that of all the decisions in her life, the choice to campaign as a Republican is the one she finds she most needs to defend to her friends and colleagues in the Jewish community.

“The Republican Party has such a bad name. My whole campaign is about justifying to the Jewish community about why I am a Republican. Only at the national level is it understood how important it is for Jews to be in the Republican Party,” she said. “It is crucial to have a presence, to keep Judaism and Israel on the front burner.”

She said her greatest disappointment has been that so many Democratic Jewish legislators, including those she has worked closely with in the past, have declined to endorse her. Still, she hopes to secure a win by appealing to the moderate and swing voters in the district.

“The majority of people I’ve met are independent thinkers,” she said. “People are looking for a balanced approach, someone who will listen to and care about their concerns. Just because a person is a registered Republican doesn’t mean they have to agree with the entire platform. I only hope the Jewish community can see that what is important is to have representation in both parties.”

Shapiro is justifiably proud of her role in the Jewish community. But there are some candidates and elected officials who, although technically Jewish, prefer to keep a low profile or even downplay their heritage in order to curry favor with their constituents. That can work against them in the long run, Svonkin says.”It’s unfortunate that in the new millennium there are [Jewish representatives] out there who are not involved in our community, don’t come to events, don’t give to support Jewish organizations, don’t stand up and participate in fights that affect our community,” he said. “The best we can do is try to reach out to them.”

Svonkin said that in some cases it is better to support candidates who are there for the community than to support candidates just because they are biologically Jewish.

“Our community cares about a broad range of issues: the sovereignty of Israel, education, health care and healthy living in our communities,” he notes. “Whether it is the presidential election or the election for mayor, we need to vote on the issues rather than on religion.”

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