Saudi Arms and Election Year Woes

By Dennis J. Wamsted

Finally, the debate is over. On June 5, the Reagan Administration convinced the necessary 34 Senators to support its much-discussed proposal to sell a package of air-to-air and air-to-sea missiles worth approximately $265 million to Saudi Arabia, thereby sustaining the President's veto of an earlier Congressional resolution prohibiting the planned sale. Following the vote, President Reagan told Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (R-KS) that he was "one happy man" and noted that the Senate's action confirmed "America's commitment to a security relationship that has served both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia well over the past 40 years."

Despite the outcome, both sides claimed victory. Senator Alan Cranston (D-CA), who led the Senate opposition, said: "They (the Saudis) didn't get what they wanted. They got 10 percent of what they wanted." Cranston also asserted that the opposition had "sent a clear signal to Saudi Arabia: Friendship is a two-way street, and we expect more of you." On the other hand, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN) argued that the vote was a "victory" for the Administration, and that it "established the ability of the President to make an arms sale to a moderate Arab state."

One of the most intriguing aspects of the battle to gain approval for the sale, which both those in favor and those opposed openly acknowledged as militarily insignificant, was the decision by AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and the organized pro-Israel lobby not to oppose the sale publicly. Despite this lack of formal opposition, however, there were numerous examples of private pressure from pro-Israel supporters. Election concerns and the concomitant fear of antagonizing pro-Israel political activists and contributors were obviously key considerations for a number of Senators. Rudy Boschwitz (R-MN), for example, introduced a number of his colleagues to Californian Michael Goland who made the not-so-subtle pitch that those Senators voting in favor of the sale risked his opposition in the upcoming election. (Goland is the man who spent $1.2 million of his own money in 1984 in so-called "independent expenditures" to help defeat then Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Charles Percy. It is also worth noting that Goland is a heavy contributor to the Citizens Organized PAC, a pro-Israel political action committee (PAC) that has distributed more than $350,000 to Congressional candidates throughout the U.S. in the past five years, and is on AIPAC's National Council.)

Barry Goldwater (R-AZ)—who voted in favor of the sale and who is retiring at the end of this year—criticized these heavy-handed tactics, saying: "I would hope that this is the last time we are subject to the intense pressure, money and threats of another country." Senator Lugar contended that the vote was so close principally because of a number of Senators' election year concerns. Specifically, Lugar said that those Senators standing for reelection in 1986 "had a lot of trouble voting for the President. They apparently felt the vote would be interpreted by Jewish citizens in their states as an adverse vote. It's that simple." Lugar's analysis is valid: only four of the 18 Republican Senators seeking reelection this year voted in favor of the proposed sale.

Trials and Tribulations of an Idaho Senator

One of the fourteen Republican Senators who voted against the proposal was Steve Symms (R-ID).

Despite his vote, however, Senator Symms is in trouble with the pro-Israel lobby and the seemingly endless number of pro-Israel PACs that have been formed in the past few years. Specifically, a seemingly harmless incident that occurred some nine years ago has come back to haunt the Senator, and greatly complicate an already difficult reelection campaign. The incident in question concerns a trip Symms took to Libya in 1977 while a member of the House of Representatives. At that time U.S.-Libyan relations—although far from cordial—were at least civil, and Symms went to Libya in an effort to sell Idaho wheat to the Libyan government. His efforts were unsuccessful and the matter apparently ended there.

However, Symms' opponent in the upcoming election—current Democratic Governor John V. Evans—has begun circulating a picture taken of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and Symms back in 1977 to Jewish households throughout the country in an effort to raise campaign funds. These anti-Symms efforts actually began last October when Morris Amitay [Amitay is a former executive director of AIPAC and the founder of Washington PAC—the third largest pro-Israel PAC in the U.S., with contributions of over $400,000 between 1981 and the end of 1985 to Congressional campaigns throughout the country.] sent a personal letter enclosing the Symms-Qaddafi picture to a targeted group of 500 Jewish donors. Somewhat later the Evans campaign sent out a mass mailing to 160,000 Jewish households throughout the country asking for contributions. This initial effort, which raised a reported $90,000, encouraged Evans' campaign to such an extent that, following the U.S. air strike against Libya in late April, a second, much larger mailing was sent to 400,000 households around the country.

Not surprisingly, many of those responding to Evans' campaign pleas are influential Jewish Americans and strong supporters of Israel. Some of the more interesting out-of-state individual contributions that Evans' campaign has received to date include:

A $350 contribution from Kenneth Bialkin (a member of AIPAC's Executive Committee and chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations);
A $1,000 contribution from Harvey Friedman (a member of AIPAC's National Council and chairman of the Florida Congressional Committee—the seventh largest pro-Israel PAC in the last three election cycles);
A $1,000 contribution from William Russell-Shapiro (the treasurer of San Franciscans for Good Government—the eighth largest pro-Israel PAC in the last three elections);
A $1,000 contribution from Melvin Swig (the founder of San Franciscans for Good Government and a member of AIPAC's Executive Committee); and
A $1,000 contribution from Irene Sarver (the treasurer of Desert Caucus—the sixth largest pro-Israel PAC in the last three elections).

In addition to his contributions from individual American Jews, Evans' campaign, not surprisingly, has also received a substantial number of contributions from pro-Israel PACs around the country. All told, by the end of the first quarter of this year, Evans' campaign had received more than $65,000 from at least 26 pro-Israel PACs nationwide. These contributions account for more than 28 percent of the total PAC contributions received by the governor's campaign to date and foreshadow the difficulties that will confront Symms and his supporters later in the campaign.

If Evans is successful in his battle against Symms, the pro-Israel lobby in the U.S. will have succeeded in changing the political landscape yet again in its favor. In particular, should Symms lose because of an effort nine years ago to improve the economic situation in Idaho by promoting the sale of wheat, the message for other Congressmen and candidates will be that a politician needs approval from the pro-Israel lobby for any action—no matter how seemingly innocent at the time—even if that action would demonstrably benefit his constituents or improve the overall situation in his state.

Dennis J. Wamsted is News Editor of the Washington Report.