Conference taveng::bagels

334.0. "Sununu's Shenanigans" by CURIE::GOLD (Jack E. Gold, MRO3) Thu Jul 30 1987 15:50

    The following article appeared in the 23 July, 1987 edition of the
    Jewish Chronicle-Leader (Worcester, MA. It is reprinted here without
    permission.
    
    
        WHY DIDN'T N.H. GOVERNOR SIGN ISRAEL PROCLAMATION
    
    WASHINGTON, JTA - New Hampshire Governor John Sununu has refused
    to sign a pro-Israel proclamation endorsed by his 49 peers, reportedly,
    because he said signing would damage his credibility as an
    Arab-American to facilitate dialogue in the Middle East.
    
    The proclamation, which repudiates the 1975 United Nations resolution
    equating racism with Zionism, was signed in 1986 by the governors,
    President Reagan and Congress.
    
    Sununu's reasoning was reported by Gary Wallin, president of the
    Jewish Federation of Greater Manchester, N.H., who met with the
    governor twice to petition for his signature. Wallin said Sununu
    told him that he has "close relationships" with a Saudi Arabian
    prince and a brother of Jordan's King Hussein.
    
    "He said the National Security Council was using him as a conduit
    for passing information to them and he said he didn't want to ruin
    his credibility by issuing the proclamation," Wallin said.
    
    Sununu's spokesman, Greta Graham, said such claims are "overblown."
    
    "I don't know how it got to the point that some people think the
    governor is an operative for the National Security Council shuttling
    back and forth between the (Middle East) forces," she said.
    
    But Graham also said that Sununu, who introduced the keynote speaker
    at the annual conference here of the National Arab Americans
    Association last month, has acquaintances in the Arab community
    which put him in a "unique position" to foster dialogue in the Middle
    East.
    
    She also said that while Sununu opposes the Zionism-equals-racism
    doctrine, he does not sign proclamations dealing with foreign policy
    issues. This was the first reported reason for his refusal to sign
    the proclamation.
    
    But Wallin countered that Sununu has signed proclamations dealing
    with such foreign subjects as Bastille Day, Captured Nations Week,
    Cuba, and the invasion of Afghanistan.
    
    Sununu's refusal to sign the proclamation has made its way into
    the New Hampshire Republican primary. The governor, a Republican,
    is heading up the state campaign of Vice-President George Bush.
    Bush, according to local newspapers, has urged Sununu to sign the
    proclamation.
    
    One of Bush's opponents, Rep. Jack Kemp, R-NY, issued a campaign
    statement, recently, calling upon the vice-president to repudiate
    Sununu who was described as a "loose cannon in international
    negotiations."
    
    
_________________________________________
    
    Thought you folks who live in New Hampshire might be interested
    in what The Gov is up to.
    
    Jack

    Just another one of the myriad reasons to hate Gov. "Sunukeanu".
    
    David

    New Hampshire has long had a tradition of isolation and provincialism
    which has given rise to such political "embarrassments" as Thompson
    and Sununu.  I put "embarrassments" in quotes because only recently
    have New Hampshire luminaries begun to care about what the rest
    of the world thinks of their state.  I think that political change is
    happening up there quite rapidly.  You can expect that New Hampshire
    politicians of the future will still be conservative, but not the
    lovable bunch of eccentric, almost-harmless demogogues we have all
    chuckled over at the corner bar.
    
    So, Sunununununu really thinks he is in a unique position to bring
    peace to the Middle East?
    
    Ed