‘David Duke Claims Vindication’

Given the controversy over the Kennedy School paper on “The Lobby,” I thought you might want your readers to know what the late Senator Hubert Humphrey, a Democrat of Minnesota, had to say about “ethnic lobbies” [“David Duke Claims to be Vindicated by a Harvard Dean,” Eli Lake, Page 1, March 20, 2006].

Here are excerpts of his address to an America Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference dinner on May 3, 1976, when I was AIPAC’s executive director. His words ring true today:

“Columnists, editorial writers have warned us about ethnic lobbies. We’ve heard careless, and I think, reckless things being said about the powerful Jewish lobby. As if somehow or another, it was against the law in this country to speak up for what you believe in.

“In fact, I not only approve of what you are doing … because there is work to be done in this city, and make no mistake about it.

“It is good for the basic democratic process that people who have convictions about what American public policy should be take time to get their fellow Americans and their public officials to understand what they believe and to urge their support. That’s what we mean by free speech in this country.

“I say it will be a sad day for this country when its citizens stop using the precious guarantees in the first amendment to petition their government.

“So I say there is nothing new about lobbying on behalf of causes in foreign places. It’s as American as a hot dog or apple pie, spaghetti, gefilte fish, or Polish sausage.

“And we have every right to urge the Congress and the president to pursue policies that we deem to be correct. We are never assured that those policies will be followed. We may not win. We may not be able to gain the majority, but we surely have that right to state our case.”

MORRIS J. AMITAY
Fairfax, Va.

‘Lobbying Against Parents’

I feel that the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council has done more damage than good by dividing the New York City parents, and although they claim they have not taken sides, they have “boycotted” the Department of Education and aligned themselves with the United Federation of Teachers [“Lobbying Against Parents,” Editorial, March 13, 2006].

Parents have a responsibility to be involved in their child’s education without demanding specifics. Many are not educators or qualified to make decisions that need to be made. If they worked for a major company, would they take it upon themselves to dictate to the president of that company? On the other hand, we do have concerns that need to be heard.

CPAC has not been there for our district when we had to deal with major restructuring issues and not only were they not there, they were not even aware of these impending changes.

District 25 has dealt with our concerns directly with the chancellor who has always been responsive and willing to work with us.

CPAC cannot truly believe they are the only entity the chancellor works with nor can they truly believe they can represent an entire city made up of five boroughs with completely different needs.

Life is about compromise and working together and I don’t see the “parent” Lobby Day that the UFT planned for them as a sign of CPAC’s way of trying to work together.

I admire the time donated by the parents and do not want to take that away from them, but this was not an initiative supported by all representatives.

Remember, for each rep, there is an entire district they represent, but are their voices truly the ones being heard?

JANE REIFF
District 25
President of Presidents Council
Flushing, N.Y.

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