by Eric Fingerhut
JTA

October 16, 2008

The issue of Israel is beginning to loom large in the contest for New Jersey’s Fifth Congressional District, where Democrat Dennis Shulman, a Reform rabbi, is running hard to unseat three-term Republican incumbent Scott Garrett.

The Republican-leaning district encompasses parts of Bergen, Passaic, and Sussex counties and all of Warren County.

Garrett has the support of the NJ-based NORPAC, the largest pro-Israel political action committee in the country.

NORPAC’s president, Ben Chouake, expressed admiration for Garrett’s record, saying his group’s “general policy in a race” is to “support a friendly incumbent.”

Meanwhile, Shulman is being supported by J Street, a political action committee that champions increased American involvement in the Mideast peace process.

Shulman said J Street has a “pro-peace, pro-Israel agenda” that reflects what he describes as “most people’s attitudes here in the United States and in Israel” — support for “muscular diplomacy” in the Middle East.

The PAC’s executive director, Jeremy Ben-Ami, called Shulman “the perfect person” to be carrying the J Street message.

Garrett said that Israel should make its own decisions on such matters and “not be interfered with,” and that J Street and the Democratic candidate support a “divided Jerusalem.”

Shulman cites Garrett’s continued support of the Iraq war, the incumbent’s 100 percent rating from the American Conservative Union, and his opposition to abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research.

In response, Garrett said, “If it’s conservative to say we need to help the middle class, then I’m a conservative.” The congressman said he believes that his constituents are sending “too much money to Washington” without getting enough benefit in return.

Even with Shulman’s aggressive campaign, Garrett remains a clear favorite. A September poll had the incumbent ahead, 49 to 34 percent, and the Cook Political Report rates the outcome of the race as “likely Republican.”

An expert in NJ politics said Shulman has an uphill climb over the next month.

“He has an outside shot,” said Ben Dworkin, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “It’s very difficult for any Democrat” to win in the district, he said, because it was drawn to favor a Republican.

While independents comprise a plurality in the district, many lean toward the GOP, Dworkin said. The same September poll showing Garrett in the lead had John McCain winning the district by 15 points in the presidential race.

Dworkin said Shulman will spend more money than any previous challenger against Garrett, but isn’t sure if some of the Democrat’s negative attacks will resonate when the economy has become such a dominant issue.

If Shulman does overcome the odds, he won’t leave his rabbinic career behind. He has continued to lead a Shabbat morning minyan at Chavurah Beth Shalom, a “progressive Reform” congregation in Alpine, throughout the campaign, and said he plans to return every Shabbat once elected, congressional duties permitting.

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