Author: Dr Farrukh Saleem
Publication: Mid-Day
Date: August 10, 2002
URL: http://www.mid-day.com/news/world/2002/august/28630.htm
The City of Washington in the District
of Columbia is not only the capital of the United States of America it
is also the lobby capital of the world. Every two years some 900 Republicans
and Democrats collectively raise a billion dollars to contest for the 435
seats at the House of Representatives. Every fourth year a Republican and
a Democrat raises a good $150 million each to contest for the White House.
Then there are 200 contestants for the 100 senate seats raising an additional
$400 million. All put together a hefty US$500 million to US$700 million
is raised on an annual basis just to keep the world's most prosperous democracy
going (campaign donations for state elections are additional to this sum).
Senate contestants need at least
a couple of million dollars to run their campaigns; representatives a million
dollars a piece (senators and representatives each gets a salary of $150,000
a year). Raising all these millions for election campaigns is a dirty business.
The president, the senators and the representatives all need money and
tons of it. That's where caucuses and Political Action Committees (PACs)
come in.
Washington, DC, among other things,
stands out for three things: the largest per capita population of lawyers;
caucuses; and Political Action Committees (a PAC is defined as a "political
committee organised for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect
and defeat candidates"). In 1993, India, along with her supporters in the
US, decided to become a part of the dirty business of raising money, the
power of caucuses and the manipulation of Washingtonian politics.
Nine years ago, the Congressional
Caucus on India and Indian-Americans was founded with the official objective
of "pushing the Indian-American community's agenda on the Hill." The original
founders of the Caucus were representatives Frank Pallone (Democrat, New
Jersey) and Bill McCollum (Republican, Florida). The current co-chairmen
of the Caucus are representatives Gary Ackerman (Democrat, New York) and
James Greenwood (Republican, Pennsylvania). Rep Ackerman is also the ranking
member on the House's subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. The
India Caucus now has a total of 111 representatives/ Congressmen as its
members. That's 25 per cent of the entire strength of the House of Representatives.
Prominent among them include Gerry
Ackerman, Ben Gilman, Richard Gephardt, Frank Pallone, Tom Lantos and Jim
McDemott. Furthermore, out of the four-dozen Congressmen who sit on the
House's International Relations Committee some two-dozen are also members
of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans. Prominent among
them include Berkley, Blumenauer, Brown, Chabot, Crowley, Davis, Engel,
Hoeffel and Lee. India, as a consequence, has a lot of voices as well as
a whole lot of votes going for her.
Pakistan's traditional lobby in
the US has been the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America
(APPNA). Then there is the Pak American Congress and the Pakistani American
Association of North America (PAANA). The Pak American Congress did manage
to recruit Senators Tim Johnson and Robert Torricelli. Representatives
David Bonior and Joseph Pitt did launch the Kashmir Caucus but the Caucus
is yet to find direction. APPNA also has a Political Action Committee by
the name of PakPac. The only thing that APPNA is fond of is creating its
own committees and task forces. On my last count APPNA had at least 25
committees including a committee on hotel selection, election, communication,
publication, office management, constitution and byelaws, finance, sehat,
disaster relief, ethics and project Evaluation.
According to APPNA's website there
is a long list of achievements but somehow all achievements end, for reasons
not explained, in October 1996. The last achievement listed is: "Executive
Council voted to launch a movement for human development in Pakistan."
PakPac, for sure, throws a lot of
dinners. A famous one was hosted on Staten Island, off New York, to raise
money for Hillary Rodham Clinton. The-then First Lady stayed at the dinner
for two hours, netted $50,000 but left before dinner was served.
In Washington, we are no match for
the Indians.
(Dr Farrukh Saleem writes for The
Friday Times, Lahore)
