User:Jacpac/Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs

Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs (JACPAC) is a national political action committee that contributes to candidates for the US Congress who support a strong US-Israel relationship, reproductive choice, and separation of religion and state. Describing itself as the pro-Israel PAC with a domestic conscience, JACPAC has made it a point to show Congress that the Jewish community cares about an array of issues of concern to all Americans.

JACPAC was the first pro-Israel PAC and the first whose members were all women. JACPAC was the first, and for many years, the only bipartisan PAC to combine the commitment to Israel with a commitment to a socially conscious political agenda. JACPAC literature states that its efforts have an impact on ongoing US support for Israel, federal support for Jewish community institutions and programs, and protection of religious freedom.

JACPAC funds its support for Congressional campaigns through annual memberships and through bundling of member donations to candidates. All donations are hand-delivered by JACPAC members, a practice that serves to develop an important personal link between the candidate and JACPAC. All members, not just a select few leaders, are afforded the opportunity to deliver donations. Although JACPAC describes itself as bipartisan, the majority of its support goes to Democrats.

History
JACPAC was founded in 1981 by a group of leaders in the national Jewish community who sought to empower Jewish women to become politically active. The founding women were convinced the time was right to use fundraising skills and political know-how to support the US-Israel relationship and to respond to the increasing power of the organized political right, then known as the religious right or the radical right. Organizations such as the Moral Majority and The Christian Coalition, to name two, were instrumental in defeating Congressional allies of Israel in the 1980 election. These organizations were against foreign aid to Israel -- and foreign aid in general. Opposed to the separation of religion and state, they promoted prayer in schools and religious symbols in the public arena. They became experts at using the media to bring about the victory of their candidates.

JACPAC women reached out to their networks across the country. Their message was this: the way to support Israel and be a positive alternative to the organized political right (and its aim to define America as a Christian nation) is to be engaged in the political process.

Before long, support for Israel began to be taken up by organizations on the political right that saw the power of the pro-Israel movement in America and its compatibility with their theology. While these groups rejected the social values held by most American Jews, their allegiance to Israel was enough to attract some Jewish admirers. Concerned about this trend, JACPAC distinguished itself from other pro-Israel PACS by its caveat that candidates aligned with or supported by the organized political right would not receive JACPAC support. JACPAC sought to channel Jewish financial support to candidates with a more comprehensive agenda, according to Rabbi David Saperstein, Director and counsel of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism (RAC). "[JACPAC's] genius was to encourage thousands of women to get involved in local politics as Jews, organize visibly as Jews and assert Jewish values and interests," Saperstein added.

Other forces went into the making of JACPAC as well, according to noted political consultant Ann Lewis. "Feminism was in the air. Women worked together through formal and informal networks.  They were visible as candidates, advocates and activists.  JACPAC was the right organization at the right time," Lewis said.

In 1989, recognizing that opposition to abortion was moving to the top of the right wing political agenda and abortion rights were being eroded, JACPAC incorporated reproductive choice into its mission. That was the year the US Supreme Court ruled in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services that states could legislate certain limits on abortion rights. Since particular religious beliefs were behind much of the opposition to abortion and, later, to family planning and stem cell research, JACPAC's commitment to the constitutional separation of religion and state was reinvigorated.

In 1993 membership was opened up to men.

Aims and Activities
Through its nationwide membership, JACPAC raises campaign contributions to support Democratic and Republican US Senate and House candidates who support their agenda. JACPAC does extensive candidate research, targets winnable races, and throws support behind candidates early in the election cycle. Their support often goes to candidates with few Jewish constituents in the belief that their votes count just as much as the votes from heavily Jewish constituencies. According to the Chicago Tribune, JACPAC prides itself on identifying challengers who have potential for success.

JACPAC has endorsed numerous candidates before they arrived on the national scene. Notable is President Barack Obama who was supported by JACPAC when he was a U.S. Senate candidate from Illinois. Others who received early JACPAC support were former Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle and George J. Mitchell, and current four-term Senator Barbara Boxer. Boxer has noted frequently in public statements that JACPAC was the only Jewish group to contribute to her first US House campaign when others thought she had no chance to win. Mitchell has said that when he was a Senate candidate in Maine, a state with a tiny percentage of Jewish voters, JACPAC was the first out-of-state PAC to support him; then others followed suit. JACPAC was a supporter of Vice president Joseph Biden during his years in the Senate.

JACPAC raised nearly half a million dollars for federal candidates through both direct and conduit contributions in the 2008 elections. JACPAC support helped elect ten new House members and six new Senators.

Advocacy
Joint Action Committee (JAC) is an advocacy group that promotes the United States-Israel relationship, separation of religion and state, reproductive freedom and selected initiatives consistent with Jewish community values. One such initiative is to gather support for US ratification of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). To promote its agenda, Joint Action Committee enlists Jewish community participation in advocacy with elected officials. Joint Action Committee (JAC) is organized as a non-profit charitable organization under IRS code 501c4.

JAC holds an annual conference in Washington, DC each spring. The meeting consists of issue briefings followed by advocacy with members of Congress on current issues of concern to the Jewish community. Unlike other organizations that send participants to meet with congressional delegations only from their own state, JAC assembles small groups that each meet with about ten members of Congress from diverse districts and states. Some 100 appointments are scheduled. Over the years, there have been briefings with Mideast peace process negotiators Dennis Ross, Aaron Miller and Martin Indyk, as well as appearances by every Israeli ambassador since JAC's inception. In 1995, JAC became the first Jewish group to be hosted at the embassy of Jordan. Experts such as Ken Pollack from the Brookings Institution and Patrick Clawson from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy have provided policy analysis to conference attendees, while political analysts Charlie Cook and Amy Walter, journalists Gloria Borger and Eleanor Clift, and pollsters Mark Mellman, Michael Murphy and Celinda Lake have weighed in on political issues. The extensive Capitol Hill guest list has prompted some conference attendees to note that JAC is better known in Washington, DC than in its home base, Chicago.