News Release

Jewish Advocate - Dec. 20, 2001
By Jacob Horowitz, Advocate Staff
Republished by permission of the Jewish Advocate

AJC Director Ousted, Local Future Uncertain

BOSTON - In an unexpected move earlier this month the national offices of the American Jewish Congress (AJC) announced the dismissal of New England Regional Director Sheila Decter. The decision, which came as a surprise to local leaders, is yet another step in an apparent attempt to shift the organization's platform to a more conservative position.

"What has happened to the American Jewish Congress is beyond belief," exclaims American Jewish Committee Executive Director Larry Lowenthal. "One of the major, mainstream, historic Jewish defense agencies that has been left of center for the past 80 years has been hijacked by a right-wing Jewish component."

The national organization's shift toward the right has been evidenced by policy changes over the past few years and, more recently, by press releases issued by the New York offices blindly praising the Bush Administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft, calling for passage of their anti-terrorism bill without prior screening.

"This is quite a change from what the organization has stood for in past decades,"

President and Chair of the Commission on Law and Social Action Joel Eigerman. "We [the New England leadership] have been quite outspoken in our displeasure with the national office, and Sheila's firing is the result.

"They are in the process of making this organization into a lobby firm for [National President] Mr. [Jack] Rosen," he adds. "He [Rosen] seems to have no agenda other than to sit at the tables of the mighty, whoever the mighty might be." In his defense, Rosen argues, "If the question is whether we should sit at the table of the president of the United States, then the answer is yes ... We have always been respectful of the office of the president whether the president is Bill Clinton or George Bush, and we should be sitting at the table with the people who make decisions. If there are individuals that think we should be wearing a democratic hat rather than a republican hat, they are dead wrong.

"We did not support Ashcroft as choice for attorney general, and we did not support the terrorism bill as it was sent to Congress, we just asked Congress to move rapidly on the legislation knowing that some pieces of the legislation we would support, such as roaming wiretaps. That's not a policy shift," he added.

On December 7 the AJC's New England leadership issued a letter defending Decter, and questioning the national office's apparent shift in policy. The statement, signed by AJC New England Region President Sumner Kaplan and co-signed by seven past presidents, stated "We believe that National wants to change AJCongress from a membership-based progressive organization into a New York-controlled conservative shell with little interest in local matters except fundraising for National ... the lay leadership of our region not only vehemently disagree with Sheila's dismissal, we believe that our national directors have abandoned AJCongress' roots, traditions and political ideology."

AJC Executive Director Phil Baum in New York, however, argues non-political reasons for Decter's dismissal. "For ten years, from 1985-1995, the Boston region cost us almost $100,000 a year, and there has been considerable deficit the past two years" he explains. "We need leadership that will ensure growing membership, and supporting the Boston office should not cost the national office. "There were two or three years where things were good and they raised money," Baum admits, "but soon everything reverted back to type.

There is a harsh reality that people need to realize, and money needs to be raised. I don't think Sumner [Kaplan], for instance, has any interest in doing fundraising." Adds Rosen, "We took action because of the lack of performance by the Boston branch. They have not raised enough money to cover their costs, and they have not added new leadership or been able to increase their membership.

"Why hasn't the leadership of the Boston Jewish community, those who have been the major contributors to Jewish causes, been engaged with the AJC in Boston," he asks.

This past summer the AJC's national office circulated a chart that illustrated the financial earnings of the past five years for the 14 regional branches around the country. The New England region showed positive earnings for 1996-1999. In 2000 a loss of $7,731 was reported and for the first four months of 2001 the region had shown losses of $45,614. "This is not a financial issue at all stresses Barbara Cullen, New England regional vice president and former co-chair of the national governing council. "Jack Rosen is literally trying to remake AJC in his own image for his own purposes. In doing so he has abandoned the core values of what we stand for, and has expropriated the name so dig the AJC no longer exists Eke it was."

"In 1998, when Rosen took office, nine out of twelve regional offices across the country were headed by female executive directors," she a". "Sheila, believe it or not, was the last woman to be either fired or forced out. There are now no women heading any of the regional

The shock of Decter's dismissal has been felt throughout the New England Jewish community, and its impact has been evident across, religious and political lines. According to the AJC statement issued earlier this month, "Letters and calls from leaders throughout the area, including Cardinal Law, Senate Majority Leader Melconian, and Rep. Barney Frank have fallen on deaf ears."

"For a non-profit organization summarily to dismiss a loyal, dedicated, hard working employee of decades of service and outstanding reputation is itself a repudiation of the values for which American Jewish Congress ought to, stand ﷓ and which I had up until now thought it did stand," said Frank.

"This is not about Sheila," argues Eigerman. "Her firing is simply National's way of getting at the local leadership. As lay members, they cannot fire us so Sheila is made the scapegoat. Now they will most likely appoint somebody else that we will not like in the hope that we'll leave."

Baum, however, claims that the national offices are eager to move forward with the rebuilding process and are willing to work with local leadership to find a new executive director of the New England region. "We would like to come to Boston and discuss the whole problem with the local leadership, to hear their case and to state our case" he says. "We were planning on making the trip until we received a letter from Sheila's lawyer, after which our lawyers advised against it.

"We have received no signs that the New England leadership wants to talk to us," he adds.

Regarding officers from the national office coming to Boston, Eigerman says, "Unless he's [Baum] coming up hem to apologize from their malicious intent, I don't see any reason for such a visit."

According to Cullen, who has been with the AJC for 30 years, "When I spoke to Baum he volunteered to come as long as the Sheila issue was kept off the table. "Our board is not interested in replacing Sheila, and we have no intention of accepting a substitute," she stressed.

One of the results of Decter's dismissal has been the formation of the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA) by local members of the AJC.

"Our new organization will be true to the progressive heritage of the American Jewish Congress," says Eigerman. "JALSA will focus on domestic policy issues at the local and national levels. It will be a strong, progressive, intergenerational voice within the Jewish community to speak out on social justice, civil tights and civil liberties issues."

This is not the first time that the policy changes in the national office have spurred the creation of new organizations to protect the positions that have been traditionally associated with the AJC. Two years ago, when the AJC disbanded their Los Angeles regional office, its members formed the Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA).

Says PJA President Douglas Mirell, "The Progressive Jewish Alliance is extremely pleased by the creation of JALSA, and -we eagerly welcome the opportunity to work with our colleagues on the east coast. Especially at the precarious time in our nation's history, it is vital that those within the Jewish community who care about civil rights and social justice stand together in speaking truth to power."

It is intended that the creation of JALSA will help fill the void that has been left by the AJC's unexplainable shift to the right.

"We still need an organization that will defend the social issues that are so important to our survival," says Cullen. "It is unfortunate that AJC has turned the way it has. Rabbi Stephen Wise and Justice Brandeis must surely be turning in their graves."

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