Candidates for U.S. Senate weave Israel into campaigns
By Carrie Budoff
Philadelphia Inquirer
Wed, Dec. 07, 2005
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Robert P. Casey Jr. made clear earlier this year that he would compete for the Jewish vote.
He developed a policy statement on Israel, courted Jewish donors, and stopped by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington, a draw for federal candidates.
Casey then took the obligatory next step: visiting Israel last month for five days.
"Finally being able to travel there has had a profound impact on me emotionally and spiritually," said Casey, a Catholic.
But Casey didn't go as a candidate - not officially, at least.
Officially, he said he went as Pennsylvania state treasurer, having been encouraged by supporters since entering public life to visit Israel.
At one point, the Casey campaign was directly involved. It paid almost $4,000 to El Al Israel Airlines in September, but later sought a refund after lawyers rejected the idea.
They told Casey aides it could be hard justifying the entire trip as campaign-related, setting up a potential conflict with federal law, which prohibits candidates from spending campaign funds for personal use.
The National Jewish Democratic Coalition put up the $10,000 to send Casey and his wife, Terese, said executive director Ira Foreman. It has sponsored only two other trips - one for Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean and another for his predecessor, Terry McAuliffe.
Foreman said Casey interested the group because Pennsylvania has $40 million invested in Israel bonds. That amount is a small fraction of the billions of dollars of state investments.
The trip is further evidence that Casey intends to fight Republican incumbent Rick Santorum for this small, but politically influential, slice of the electorate. Only 2.3 percent, or 282,000, of the state's population is Jewish, but almost 75 percent live in the southeast, a battleground in the race.
In some ways, Casey is playing catch-up with Santorum.
The two-term senator, who is also Catholic, has traveled to Israel twice under the sponsorship of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He has cultivated a relationship with this traditionally Democratic constituency, winning support, particularly among Orthodox and conservative Jews, by focusing in Congress on Middle East security issues.
Casey declined to talk about the political implications of his trip, saying only that he hoped "a lot of the things I have done in the last year will help me."
But Casey, who faces two challengers for the Democratic nomination, has already begun talking up his trip on the campaign trail. He discussed his experience with donors gathered last week at the Philadelphia law firm of Kohn Swift & Graf.
In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, Casey visited the Golan Heights, the Israel security barrier, an absorption center for Ethiopian immigrants, and Christian holy sites. He prayed at the Western Wall - a picture of him appears on the National Jewish Democratic Coalition Web site. He met with Israeli government officials and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
He said he was moved by what he heard and saw. Images of Holocaust victims at Yad Vashem, a museum. A Jerusalem playground shielded from bullets by 8-foot-high concrete barriers. A rabbi who told the story of finding his teenage daughter, serving her year in the Israeli military, asleep with an M-16 rifle and a Curious George stuffed animal by her bed.
Casey said his visit reinforced his support of the controversial security barrier along the West Bank, designed to protect Israelis from Palestinian attacks. Santorum also backs the barrier.
Casey would not say whether he favors recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a point of dispute. Santorum supports such a designation.
Casey traveled to Israel with Betsy Sheerr, a Bryn Mawr communications-firm owner, and a dozen other supporters from the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Wed, Dec. 07, 2005
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Robert P. Casey Jr. made clear earlier this year that he would compete for the Jewish vote.
He developed a policy statement on Israel, courted Jewish donors, and stopped by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington, a draw for federal candidates.
Casey then took the obligatory next step: visiting Israel last month for five days.
"Finally being able to travel there has had a profound impact on me emotionally and spiritually," said Casey, a Catholic.
But Casey didn't go as a candidate - not officially, at least.
Officially, he said he went as Pennsylvania state treasurer, having been encouraged by supporters since entering public life to visit Israel.
At one point, the Casey campaign was directly involved. It paid almost $4,000 to El Al Israel Airlines in September, but later sought a refund after lawyers rejected the idea.
They told Casey aides it could be hard justifying the entire trip as campaign-related, setting up a potential conflict with federal law, which prohibits candidates from spending campaign funds for personal use.
The National Jewish Democratic Coalition put up the $10,000 to send Casey and his wife, Terese, said executive director Ira Foreman. It has sponsored only two other trips - one for Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean and another for his predecessor, Terry McAuliffe.
Foreman said Casey interested the group because Pennsylvania has $40 million invested in Israel bonds. That amount is a small fraction of the billions of dollars of state investments.
The trip is further evidence that Casey intends to fight Republican incumbent Rick Santorum for this small, but politically influential, slice of the electorate. Only 2.3 percent, or 282,000, of the state's population is Jewish, but almost 75 percent live in the southeast, a battleground in the race.
In some ways, Casey is playing catch-up with Santorum.
The two-term senator, who is also Catholic, has traveled to Israel twice under the sponsorship of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He has cultivated a relationship with this traditionally Democratic constituency, winning support, particularly among Orthodox and conservative Jews, by focusing in Congress on Middle East security issues.
Casey declined to talk about the political implications of his trip, saying only that he hoped "a lot of the things I have done in the last year will help me."
But Casey, who faces two challengers for the Democratic nomination, has already begun talking up his trip on the campaign trail. He discussed his experience with donors gathered last week at the Philadelphia law firm of Kohn Swift & Graf.
In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, Casey visited the Golan Heights, the Israel security barrier, an absorption center for Ethiopian immigrants, and Christian holy sites. He prayed at the Western Wall - a picture of him appears on the National Jewish Democratic Coalition Web site. He met with Israeli government officials and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
He said he was moved by what he heard and saw. Images of Holocaust victims at Yad Vashem, a museum. A Jerusalem playground shielded from bullets by 8-foot-high concrete barriers. A rabbi who told the story of finding his teenage daughter, serving her year in the Israeli military, asleep with an M-16 rifle and a Curious George stuffed animal by her bed.
Casey said his visit reinforced his support of the controversial security barrier along the West Bank, designed to protect Israelis from Palestinian attacks. Santorum also backs the barrier.
Casey would not say whether he favors recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a point of dispute. Santorum supports such a designation.
Casey traveled to Israel with Betsy Sheerr, a Bryn Mawr communications-firm owner, and a dozen other supporters from the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas.
posted by Hanan Elbadry at 10:46 PM
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