White House Jewish Liaison
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The White House staff position of Liaison to the Jewish Community (popularly known as the Jewish Liaison) is a role charged with serving as the Administration's voice to the organized American Jewish community and gathering the community's consensus viewpoint on issues affecting it for the benefit of White House policymakers. It has existed at least as early as the Carter Administration.
At times, the post has operated within the White House Office of Public Liaison, and its formal title has depended on the rank of the person holding it. Thus, liaisons have held the position of Administrative Assistant for Jewish Affairs, Special Adviser for Jewish Affairs, or Deputy-Chief-of-Staff for Jewish Affairs. At other times, the post has been held by persons outside of the Public Liaison Office.
The position is a difficult one to hold.[1] The liaison must be in contact with Jewish organization leaders who believe that they should be able to interact with White House policymakers as the need arises.[1] The Liaison must also gather consensus from, and represent the Administration to, an American Jewish community that is deeply divided on many major issues, including foreign policy, such as the method of achieving Mideast peace, and domestic policy, like school vouchers and aid to parochial schools.[1]
Recently, the position has been handled by younger staffers holding their first jobs in the executive branch, with little power, and frequently many years younger than the leaders to whom they represent the Administration viewpoint.[1]
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[edit] Past Liaisons
[edit] Carter Administration
In 1978, Carter administration Jewish liaison Mark Siegel resigned the position after he became distressed with the administration's position towards Israel and Middle East policy and felt unable to influence it.[2]
[edit] Reagan Administration
Marshall Breger was President Ronald Reagan’s Jewish liaison.[3] He was involved in explaining to White House chief of staff Donald Regan why Jews were angry over Reagan's 1985 visit to a Bitburg, West Germany cemetery that included the graves of Waffen-SS soldiers.[3] The position was a strong one in the Reagan and Clinton administrations; the position was shuffled relatively more often during the George W. Bush administration.[3]
[edit] Clinton Administration
Former Clinton Administration liaison Jay Footlik was a candidate for Congress in Illinois's 10th congressional district,[4] losing to Dan Seals in the primary in 2008.[5]
[edit] George W. Bush Administration
During the Bush Administration, seven people held the position of White House Liaison to the Jewish community.[6][7]
Adam Goldman, succeeded by HHS Deputy Secretary Tevi Troy, and others at the White House, were said to have angered more liberal leaders of American Jewish organizations by allegedly bypassing their counsel in favor of more conservative Jews, functioning as a gatekeeper.[8]
Additional Jewish Liaisons in the Bush White House included researcher and scheduler Jeff Berkowitz;[9] staff assistant Jay Zeidman, the son of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council chair Fred Zeidman;[6][10] speechwriter Noam Neusner, son of Jacob Neusner, a prominent rabbi and author;[11] and special policy assistant to the President Jeremy Katz.[6] Troy left to work on the Bush 2004 reelection campaign,[11] while both Berkowitz and Zeidman left to join 2008 Republican presidential campaigns.[6][9]
The last liaison was Scott Arogeti.[7]
[edit] Obama Administration
During the Presidential transition of Barack Obama, at least five candidates were interested in the position.[3] The post is currently co-held by Susan Sher, chief of staff to the First Lady,[12] and Danielle Borrin, who holds the position of Special Assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement to Vice President Biden.[13][14]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d James Besser, Wanted: Obama administration Jewish Liaison, The Jewish Week (New York) - JW Political Insider blog, January 19, 2009
- ^ Smith, Terence (March 8, 1978). "Carter Aide Leaves Liaison Post". The New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0E13FB345A13728DDDA10894DB405B888BF1D3.
- ^ a b c d Brett Lieberman (Nov. 24, 2008). "The Race Is on for Hot Job as Obama’s Liaison to Nation’s Jews". The Jewish Daily Forward. http://www.forward.com/articles/14612/.
- ^ Susan Kuczka, Consultant, ex-White House staffer vie to take on Mark Kirk in 10th District, Chicago Tribune, January 23, 2008
- ^ James Kimberly, National Dem targets three Illinois congressional races, Chicago Tribune - Clout Street blog, February 21, 2008
- ^ a b c d Nathan Guttman (Dec 29, 2006). "Bush Set To Tap New Jewish Liaison". The Jewish Daily Forward. http://www.forward.com/articles/bush-set-to-tap-new-jewish-liaison/.
- ^ a b "Arogeti named White House Jewish liaison". Jerusalem Post. Jul 13, 2008. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1215330947146.
- ^ Matthew E. Berger (Aug 08 2003). "Bush Names Orthodox Adviser As New White House Jewish Liaison". The Jewish Press. http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/15244/Bush_Names_Orthodox_Adviser_As_New_White_House_Jewish_Liaison.html.
- ^ a b Ben Smith, Staffing up the RNC, Politico - Ben Smith blog, May 7, 2009
- ^ Dan Froomkin, 2006 White House Office Staff List - Salary, Washington Post, July 19, 2006
- ^ a b Bush picks Neusner as Jewish liaison, JTA, May 18, 2004
- ^ Ian Herbert, Susan Sher, Washington Post - WhoRunsGov.com wiki, June 25, 2009
- ^ Eric Fingerhut, For now, no separate Jewish liaison for Obama, JTA, February 4, 2009
- ^ White House, Press Release - President Obama Launches Office of Public Engagement, May 11, 2009
[edit] External links
- The White House Office of Public Liaison - has some background on position
