Arab Americans in Virginia Form Political Action Committee

(Prime focus to be on local politics) (1400)
By Ghada Elnajjar
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Recently, a group of community activists in Virginia
came together to launch the newest Arab American political action
committee (PAC). "The New Dominion PAC" (NDP) will work to strengthen
Arab American political influence in Virginia, increase the
community's participation in state and national politics, and educate
elected officials and others about community concerns.

More than 20 Arab Americans – comprising businessmen, students and
political consultants – joined by State Delegate and House Democratic
Party Caucus Chair Brian Moran, formally launched the PAC on December
17, 2002 at a local Arab American-owned business establishment in
Arlington, Virginia.

The gathering marked a milestone: NDP is the state of Virginia's first
Arab American PAC, and only the fourth devoted to Arab American causes
nationwide. The others include the Arab American Institute's Arab
American Leadership PAC, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination's
NAAA-ADC PAC and the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC),
whose main focus is in Michigan.

Delegate Moran stressed that it is important for Arab Americans and
other recent immigrants to play a role in shaping the future of the
State of Virginia. "We need to do more to get recent immigrant
(communities) like yours into elected office here in Virginia. I want
to play a role in helping you move forward in that process," he said.

According to NDP Co-Founder Marwan Burgan, PACs play a significant
role in influencing policy making in Congress. He explained that a PAC
basically allows a group of people who share a common interest to pool
their resources together and formally organize their participation in
the political process. Representing the interests of one group, a PAC
competes with other groups to make its voice heard in Congress.

"In the American political system, Congress serves as an arena where
opposite interests compete to influence policy formulation," said
Burgan, who is also an official with Fairfax County Supervisor Penny
Gross and a member of the county's Democratic Committee.

"Eventually," he added, "Congress would come out with a compromise
that includes every interest. If the Arab American side is absent from
the formulation of policy, then Arab Americans lose, people that care
about in the Middle East lose, and also as important, the American
people lose because American policy becomes very skewed towards one
side."

Burgan said that unfortunately, Arab Americans so far do not have a
sufficient voice in Congress. He urged Arab Americans to form more
PACs in the hope of influencing policy "not only out of Washington,
but out of Arab American communities all over America."

PACs make it easy for individuals to meet with elected officials and
candidates, contribute financially to their elections and help
organize volunteers to work on the campaigns, said Burgan. "Through
this process," he noted, "candidates and elected officials begin to
see Arab Americans as active participants in the political process."

"In politics," explained Burgan "you need to help your friends
(elected officials) to ensure that they stay as elected officials,
especially if they take positions that are not popular with some
segments of the constituency. If you don't help your friends and
protect them, then people are going to be afraid to deal with your
issues."

In addition to Burgan, the other co-founders of NDP are Saba Shami,
former director of the Ethnic Outreach Committee in the Virginia
gubernatorial campaign of Mark Warner and currently a political
appointee serving in the Department of Motor Vehicles, and Hady Amr,
former national director for Ethnic American Outreach for Al Gore's
presidential campaign and a member of the board of the Virginia Public
Schools Authority.

According to Shami, the Arab American community can play a more
influential role through a state PAC than through a national PAC.

"The primary reason we launched a state PAC as opposed to a national
PAC is because our chance to influence policy-making apparatus in the
State of Virginia is much better than affecting the national scene,
simply because these (elected officials) are individuals that we live
near, do business with, and socialize with," explained Shami.

"We feel that the focus on foreign policy has damaged the Arab
American community's ability to influence national policies because we
have been portrayed to be a single-issue community, which is totally
untrue and unacceptable. By refocusing our energy to local politics,
we have been successful in attracting the attention of both
politicians and community leaders," he added.

Amr also urged the Arab American community to focus its political
involvement on local elected officials. "We need to worry about how
our city council thinks and feels," he said. "People who run for
Congress start at city council and as state legislators. If we develop
relationships with these officials early on, they remember who helped
them early on."

According to Amr, Arab Americans are significant players in Virginia
due to their large and concentrated numbers. "Arab Americans are
estimated to make up about 1 percent of the population of Virginia and
about 3 percent of Congressional districts; this now makes the
community a pivotal electoral force," he said.

"It's been a longstanding desire of mine to launch a PAC," Amr said.
"It's an important step for the community to take because a lot of
time the Arab American community shoots too high (in trying to
influence national elections). We know we can be effective at the
local level."

Amr sees NDP as a way to get Arab Americans directly involved with
elected officials in Virginia. "The way we want to operate is we want
to have lunches every 2 to 3 months and invite elected officials to
meet our community."

While the launching of NDP was applauded by Arab American community
leaders, many were well aware of how far Arab Americans lags behind
other ethnic American political activists. The disparity is reflected
not just in the number of PACs established, but more starkly by the
amount of money each group has contributed.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington,
D.C.-based non-partisan research group, the Arab-American community is
a far less visible player on the political stage than the other ethnic
communities.

The Center's research found that "Although campaign contributions from
pro-Arab and pro-Muslim interests have risen steadily over the past
decade...virtually all of the Arab and Muslim communities' political
money has come from a small group of PACs, which have contributed
nearly $297,000 to federal candidates and parties since the 1989-90
election cycle."

"These numbers are definitely not accurate," said Khaled Saffuri,
executive director of the Washington-based Islamic Institute. He
pointed out that the practice of political financial contributions is
not channeled properly. He explained that rather than giving donations
through an Arab American PAC, major Arab American donors-- who
individually give as much as $100,000 in some political cycles -- do
so on their own outside any organized structure. Hence, Saffuri
concluded, their political power is not recognized by studies
conducted by such institutions as the Center for Responsive Politics.

"There is lots of money giving on a personal level and most of the
donors do not tie in on Arab and Muslim issues. They do so on personal
interest rather than community interest. There is a substantial amount
of funds that is raised by Arabs and Muslims in this country and sent
directly without any ties," he added.

Saffuri said that he believes the Bush campaign received a minimum of
$2 million from Arab American and American Muslim sources that were
not necessarily recognized as being from those communities.

NDP raised about $4000 at its inaugural event with attendees
contributing $200 each. The new PAC hopes to raise $40,000 in its
first year of operation. According to its mission statement, NDP's
goals "is not just to raise money, it's to get to know candidates and
the political process better so that our community can get more
involved in campaigns and elections." The mission statement continues,
"We will support candidates who support the expressed concerns of Arab
Americans here in Virginia and are committed to protect civil
liberties and constitutional rights in America." (For more information
on NDP, please visit www.ndpac.org).

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)