by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

September 4, 2008

Despite years as a high-profile activist for Republican causes and her 2005 presidential appointment as chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, this is the first time that Cheryl Halpern has served as a delegate to this year’s GOP national convention. The Livingston resident arrived in St. Paul several days before the gathering’s Sept. 1 opening gavel to serve on the credentials committee.

She told NJ Jewish News she has known John McCain for many years as “a man of integrity.”

They met, she said, as board members of the International Republican Institute, a GOP organization — active in 70 countries “to support democracy and freedom around the globe,” according to its website — that McCain currently chairs.

“He is a man who believes in transparency, communication, diversity of opinion, and making decisions. That is why he worked so effectively with his colleagues on the other side of the aisle,” Halpern said.

Her message to fellow Jews is “to look at who is advising Sen. McCain with respect to Israel and the Jewish community.” She points to his close association with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), a relationship that sends, she said, “a distinct signal that he will not let the Jewish community be unheard and will stand side by side with the elected government of Israel.

“I do not believe Obama has made the same commitment.”

Halpern believes the Republican candidate “stands a very good chance in New Jersey because of who he is. He has the stature of service and an unfailing commitment to the Constitution. He has promoted the equality of women.”

Although Halpern considers herself pro-choice and McCain opposes abortion rights, she said, “Not everybody is going to agree on every issue.”

Conceding it is “more than likely” that the next president will appoint Supreme Court justices who could overturn Roe v. Wade, “nominees will have to go through the Senate Judiciary Committee to be seated,” suggesting that a Democratic majority could block a selection who is not pro-choice. “Whether McCain is pro-life or pro-choice, he is entitled to his opinion,” Halpern said.

Pleased at his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his running mate, Halpern said, “She and her family represent America.”

Halpern rejected the idea that the selection of a woman for the Republican ticket was aimed at luring disenchanted Hillary Clinton supporters away from the Democrats. Palin, Halpern said, is “a very appropriate choice. She is bringing the executive office experience to the ticket. She knows what it means to run a state and deal with budgetary issues that need to be addressed. It is not going to be ‘pro-life, pro-choice’ that will be the primary concern in this election — the economy very much is going to be.”

Halpern’s first campaign experience came when she was a Democrat in 1970 and helped Lieberman win a seat in the Connecticut state legislature.

Troubled a few years later by the presence of the anti-Semitic Lyndon LaRouche in Democratic circles, she changed party affiliations.

Since her 2003 appointment as head of the government’s public broadcasting company, Halpern spends a great deal of time traveling throughout the world. When she is back in the States, “I do Shabbos in New Jersey and the working week in Washington,” she said.

As a member of the MetroWest community, she said, she is connected to “multiple organizations — some quietly, some more actively. My time is somewhat limited.”

Halpern and her husband, Fred, are members of the Orthodox Synagogue of the Suburban Torah Center in Livingston and are involved with the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy, the Jewish National Fund, and Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.

‘Exactly a moderate’

Like Halpern, Munr Kazmir of Closter is a long-time Republican and a first-time convention delegate.

He arrived in America in 1984 after immigrating to England and then the United States from the small Jewish community in his hometown of Lahore, Pakistan. A year later, President Ronald Reagan ordered bombing raids on Libya in retribution for terrorist attacks in Europe, and “that made me a Republican,” Kazmir said.

He was an early supporter of McCain, and “even at a time in the primary season when he was not doing good, I stuck with him.”

Kazmir said, “Israel is very important to me. It is unconditional. I like Bush. He was very good for Israel.”

Kazmir also supports the war in Iraq. “We are fighting a difficult enemy. This world doesn’t understand. I grew up with anti-Semitism. I think what Bush is doing in Iraq — it is the greatest thing he is doing. If you just walk away from the war, you are giving weakness.”

And yet, Kazmir admitted, he does have “some disagreements with my party. I am not a religious right-wing Republican. I consider myself a Christie Whitman Republican,” referring to the former New Jersey governor who resigned her office to become President George W. Bush’s first administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Kazmir was co-finance chair of the Republican State Committee when Whitman was elected governor in 1993.

A physician and pharmacist by profession, he served on the Bush-Cheney Transition Advisory Committee and is a member of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Kazmir is active with the American Jewish Congress, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and the Anti-Defamation League and serves on the board of the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown.

“I am a moderate, exactly, and John McCain is exactly that,” he said. When reminded of his candidate’s conservative voting record on such issues as abortion rights, gun control, and healthcare reform, Kazmir responded, “He is from the state of Arizona — and what do you expect?”

Barack Obama “may be wonderful, but he has not had experience,” said Kazmir. “I think he is not mature enough. I think we are discriminating against McCain because of his age. Maturity is very important. He is going to have good advisers. I have a good feeling about McCain. I think he will be one of the greatest presidents we’ve ever had.”

--TOP--

Comment: comments@njjewishnews.com