By Rabbi Daniel Lapin
In recent news reports, Toward Tradition, the organization I helped found, has been drawn into the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. I would like to present facts about the relationship between Abramoff and the organization.
Abramoff was not among the 22 Jews and Christians who conceived of and founded Toward Tradition in 1991. He became a supporter and joined the board of directors a little later and served a few terms as chairman. He resigned his chairmanship in 2000 and from the board in 2004.
He contributed to the organization at a level typical of other board members, slightly more than some and less than others. At no time have I personally received funds from Abramoff directly or from his organizations.
In June 2003, I wrote to some Toward Tradition supporters saying that if they intended contributing substantially to the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, they may wish to direct their support via Abramoff.
Abramoff was a long-time friend of the Lapin family. However, I did not serve as his rabbi or mentor. Our friendship revolved around our families and the difficulties of being conservatives in the Jewish community.
I recall no discussions about his business and never heard anything from him that caused me to think he was doing anything unscrupulous.
Someone in the press located an e-mail from Abramoff asking me to give him an award he said he needed to gain admittance to an elite Washington club. Anyone familiar with Abramoff’s jocular and often irreverent email style won’t be surprised that I assumed the question to be a joke.
I responded in similar style offering to “wallpaper his office with awards.” I regret the exchange. I should have explained that Toward Tradition is not an academic institution and does not issue the kind of awards he described.
On no occasion did I, Toward Tradition nor any other organization with which I was affiliated ever create an award for, or present one to, Abramoff.
Hiring an organizer
Then came the plea agreement on Jan. 3 that was responsible for the current spate of negative publicity. Headlines such as “Abramoff Used Foundation as Conduit for Money” began to appear.
The plea agreement is 14 pages long, with another 15 pages of attachments. Page 13 of the attachments refers to “a non-profit entity.” The document doesn’t mention a name, but that entity is Toward Tradition.
Toward Tradition staff members were interviewed last August by the Justice Department about the events. Here is what happened.
Toward Tradition ran conferences in Washington, D.C., in 1994, 1997 and 2000. For a Seattle-based organization to hold a large event in Washington requires someone there to be local representative and organizer.
Sometime before summer 2000, Abramoff offered to provide an organizer for that year’s conference. This was Lisa Rudy. He added that he might know someone willing to donate money to be used to hire her.
It is not uncommon for donors to make specific gifts for specific purposes, so we suspected nothing amiss. Our board approved hiring Rudy.
It is also not uncommon for donors to enlist the support of their friends and business contacts. Thus we were not surprised when a check arrived from Abramoff for $25,000 made out by a firm called ELottery, with directions to pay Rudy $5,000 per month for her services.
We received a couple more checks from other Abramoff clients allowing us to continue paying Rudy until the post-conference work was complete in 2001. Toward Tradition paid her all the money we received for that purpose. No part of those gifts was kept for Toward Tradition’s general use.
As I understand it, Abramoff pled guilty to intending to influence Rudy’s husband, who worked for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), by “providing ten equal monthly payments totaling $50,000 through a non-profit entity to the wife of Staffer A.”
The Justice Department questioned whether Rudy had actually done work for Toward Tradition. Our documentation demonstrated that, in all innocence, we employed her, and she had done all that a local coordinator was supposed to do at a fee within the range of what we expected to pay.
The $25,000 was not for lobbying in favor of gambling. Neither Toward Tradition nor myself has ever engaged in lobbying. Moreover, in my radio shows, articles and books, I have expressed negative views of gambling.
That supporters and friends of Toward Tradition have been embarrassed by the press linking us to Abramoff disappoints me terribly. However, Toward Tradition and I interact with thousands of individuals and organizations every year. It is unrealistic to suppose that none of these relationships are ever going to become problematic.
The insinuations of wrongdoing by Toward Tradition are untrue and unfair. This is to be expected. As a prominent conservative organization, we present a juicy target for a left-leaning press.
Despite high-minded and self-serving rhetoric about journalistic responsibility, the news media are in business like just about everyone else, and being in business means selling.
Selling means attracting attention, and good news doesn’t attract attention. Sensational stories and wild accusations do. And when wild accusations tar someone, it is notoriously difficult for a public person to obtain redress.
On a personal level, this affair reminds me that human beings are far too complex to be evaluated with a simple balance sheet.
God created us as infinitely complex creatures. We are capable of evil and good actions — often on the same day.
It is a mistake to label a person as “evil” because of evil actions. We are better off evaluating only people’s actions, leaving God to evaluate people in their totality.
Abramoff is a practicing Jew who has admitted doing things that his faith despises. This embarrasses other observant Jews, as well it should.
Heaven knows, religious people are just as imperfect as secular people. Being religious doesn’t mean one is perfect and never sins.
It does mean that when a religious person sins, he is tormented by remorse. He knows that he has let down himself, his family and friends, and his God.
Many of us are lured into the trap of sounding self-righteous and sanctimonious when we condemn the behavior of religious wrongdoers. While we are entitled to expect a higher standard of conduct from those who fear God, it is not true that God-fearing people who sin are irredeemable hypocrites. They are religious people who are not perfect.
They are not proof of the general hypocrisy of faith. Neither are they a vindication of secularism.
Could I have foreseen the calamity and its effect on Toward Tradition? I don’t think so. Many shrewd lawyers and business professionals as well as experienced politicians in Abramoff’s orbit failed to sense any peril.
Had Abramoff’s lifestyle been dissolute, I and other people would have recognized the warning signs. However, from what I observed, Abramoff’s life revolved around his work, family and faith.
He spent money on subsidizing a kosher restaurant, a religious high school, Israeli causes and helping poor relatives. These don’t excuse illegal acts, but neither were they warning signs.
There are many who hate what Toward Tradition stands for and who will exploit this association by hurling mud. They never had any interest in the truth, and the truth won’t change their actions.
Rabbi Daniel Lapin, an Orthodox rabbi in Seattle, is author of three books, is president of Toward Tradition and hosts his own television and radio shows.
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