After rallying enough support this spring to cut the proposed $3 billion Saudi arms sale to $265 million, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the main pro-Israel lobbying group, was satisfied. So was the government of Israel, which didn't see the smaller package as a threat to its security.
Not Morrie Amitay.
Amitay, treasurer of the pro-Israel Washington Political Action Committee, which has handed out $260,000 for 1986 House and Senate races, has set his sights on two Jewish senators -- Edward Zorinsky (D-Neb.) and Chic Hecht (R-Nev.) -- who voted for the pared-down Saudi package.
In a recent newsletter, Amitay said Zorinsky and Hecht, who aren't up for reelection until 1988, "can expect to do very poorly with Washington PAC and other like-minded PACs." He particularly scolded Zorinsky, saying "the Z stands for zero on Israel-related issues."
Zorinsky declined comment on the description, but told the Omaha World Herald after he voted for the sale that he has been criticized before by supporters of Israel. "I tell them I vote for what I think will benefit the country," he said. "I am a United States senator who happens to be Jewish."
In the world of political fund-raising, Morrie Amitay and his counterparts at other pro-Israel PACs are a force to be reckoned with. They have a goal (electing friends and defeating perceived enemies) and they have money ($3.6 million in contributions in the 1984 races).
Beyond the PACs, there is the clout of the Jewish-American community, which contributes to campaigns in relatively greater numbers than other groups.
None of this is lost on some members of Congress. They talk about "the Percy factor," a reference to the 1984 defeat of Sen. Charles H. Percy (R-Ill.), who was targeted by pro-Israel lobbying groups because he pushed the 1981 sale of AWACS radar planes to Saudi Arabia.
One Jewish-American businessman from California, Michael Goland, spent more than $1 million of his money to help defeat Percy. He stayed within campaign financing laws by spending the money "independently" rather than at the direction of Percy's opponent. Most of the money was spent on advertisements.
Administration officials who lobbied members of Congress on the recent Saudi arms sale said they saw evidence of the "Percy factor."
One exasperated Pentagon official recalled: "They say, 'I agree with you 100 percent.' But then they say they can't vote for the sale and cite 'what happened to Percy.' "
Goland was active in the recent Saudi sale, too. Just before the first Senate vote on the issue last May, Goland appeared in the Senate cloakroom with Sen. Rudy Boschwitz (R-Minn.) to lobby two wavering Republicans against the sale.
Sources said Boschwitz made sure his colleagues knew that this was the Michael Goland. Boschwitz's tactics made several senators, administration officials and some lobbyists wince. Boschwitz wasn't trying to pressure the two senators, an aide said.
The Goland episode was mentioned later on the Senate floor. Saying he did not understand the "awesome, mythical, metaphysical powers of some Californian named Michael Goland," Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.) said he was bothered by the idea that "you must be with me all the way or you are not for me." Calling himself a friend of Israel, he said, "You cannot build friendship on threats or intimidation or talk of political retribution or the ancient political game of 'keeping score.' "