By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — Congratulations and Kol Hakovod to California’s senior U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, 89, who announced on Tuesday, Feb. 14, she will retire at the end of her term. She was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992 after having served as a county supervisor and mayor of the City/County of San Francisco. By the time of her scheduled retirement in January 2025, she will have served 32 fruitful years in the Upper House of Congress, a record for women legislators.
“Even with a divided Congress, we can still pass bills that will improve lives,” Feinstein said. “Each of us was sent here to solve problems. That’s what I’ve done for the last 30 years, and that’s what I plan to do for the next two years. My thanks to the people of California for allowing me to serve them.”
Feinstein was a county supervisor when two of her colleagues, Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, were gunned down by the recently resigned Supervisor Dan White, who had changed his mind and wanted to be reappointed to that post.
After the two assassinations in 1978, the shocked Feinstein made two issues cornerstones of her service to the people of California. A Democrat, she favored gun control, even achieving a temporary ban on the sale of certain assault weapons. Feinstein also became a strong ally of the LGBTQ+ community, having been greatly moved by the death of her colleague Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay elected official in the country. In the 2019 film, The Report, former San Diegan Annette Benning portrayed Feinstein as a Senate Intelligence Committee member investigating the use of torture by the Central Intelligence Agency.
As a member of the Jewish community, Feinstein has been responsive to legislation to counteract the dangers of antisemitism. She has received awards from Hebrew University, the Anti-Defamation League, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and the American Jewish Congress. She votes on some occasions with pro-Israel forces, other times against. She opposed the U.S. moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and has said Israeli annexation of territory in Judea and Samaria undermines peace. She favors a two-state solution with Israel and an independent Palestine living side by side, and has opposed, as a violation of free speech, a measure that would have prohibited American companies from participating in boycotts of Israel. Her late husband, investment banker Richard Blum, was an unabashed opponent of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, calling it “bullshit.”
Feinstein has been an active supporter of providing military aid to Israel. In a 2015 interview with the Jerusalem Post, she explained that while the relationship between the U.S. and Israel sometimes is strained, “U.S. support for an independent and secure homeland for the Jewish people remains unchanged.” She added that “the U.S.-Israel relationship must transcend domestic politics. Israel’s security is too important an issue on which to score political points.”
Even before Feinstein’s announcement, another member of the Jewish community, Congressman Adam Schiff (D- Burbank) announced that he would run for his seat, as did Katie Porter (D-Orange County). Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) has also indicated interest.
“As the top Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees for many years, we worked closely together and I’m deeply grateful for her friendship and mentorship,” said Schiff. “All of California is indebted to Dianne for her decades of distinguished service.”
Having played a key role in bringing impeachment charges against former President Donald Trump, Schiff is perhaps the better known of the likely contenders. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) has endorsed him for the Senate position.
Porter, who has vowed never to accept corporate money, said that Feinstein “created a path for women in politics that I am proud to follow. I thank the Senator for her leadership and appreciate all that she has accomplished for our state.”
Lee, former Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, commented, “I have been honored to serve beside Senator Feinstein in the California Congressional Delegation, and to the Senator, I’d like to say thank you for your enormous service to our state and country.
In California, the top two finishers in a primary election, regardless of their political party, advance to the general election. California is considered a Democratic party stronghold. Just before the November 2022 election, California had 21,940,274 registered voters of whom 10,283,258 or 46.87 percent were Democrats; 5,232,094, or 23.85 percent Republicans; 4,943,696 or 22.53 percent with no party preference, and the remaining 6.75 percent of the voters divided among American Independent, Green, Libertarian, Peace and Freedom, and unspecified other minor parties, according to California’s Secretary of State.
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Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day 2023 had good and bad moments for me.
The Good: My wife Nancy asked me to be her valentine before I could get the same words out of my mouth. Her question made me feel great, even though after nearly 55 years of marriage, my affirmative answer was obvious. And she said she would be my valentine too!
The Bad: The message heading on my email on Tuesday, Feb. 14, said “Happy Valentine’s Day!” The greeting turned out to be from a midwestern gun manufacturer offering all sorts of lethal merchandise. I won’t tell you the manufacturer’s name because I don’t wish to give the company any publicity. The message managed to trigger two of my pet peeves: the mass marketing of firearms to any and all potential buyers, and the proliferation of spam emails that clutter everyone’s in-boxes. Every day, I find myself mass deleting about 100 messages, most of them offering unsought financial advice. I would welcome the federal government enforcing a ban on spam emails and robo-telephone calls, both of which are unwelcome intrusions into our private lives.
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Super Bowl LVII
There aren’t a lot of Jews playing in the National Football League, although they are well represented as owners and managers of NFL teams. The Philadelphia Eagles, which was one of the teams in the Super Bowl played Sunday, Feb. 12, is owned by a Jew, Jeffrey Lurie, and has a Jewish general manager in Howie Roseman.
Maybe Jews shy from being players on the field because the game traditionally is played with a pigskin. However that may be, we Jews were well represented on Sunday, Feb. 12, in the commercials broadcast during time outs of Super Bowl LVII, which the Kansas City Chiefs won 38-35 over the Philadelphia Eagles.
For example, I saw Ben Stiller and Rachel Dratch in a commercial for Pepsi Cola, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen in an advertisement for Lay’s Potato Chips, Alicia Silverstone pitching Rakuten, Amy Schumer erasing her exes in a commercial for Google Pixel, and Adam and Eve (as portrayed by actors) in another commercial for Avocados de Mexico. In that commercial everyone else was imitating the fig-leaf covered nudity of the First Man and First Woman, even the Statue of Liberty. Oh yeah, and there was another Jew who was the subject of two other commercials: Jesus. In one an organization called “He Gets Us” said Jesus wants us to be childlike; in the other we were advised that he wanted us to love our enemies.
I asked Conservative Rabbi Mathew Marko, who attended the watch party organized by the Tifereth Israel Synagogue Men’s Club, for his reaction to those Christian-oriented commercials. He shrugged and said that neither he nor anyone else has a corner on the truth.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is Catholic, was quite critical of the ads, knowing that the organization backing them also is involved in political campaigns opposing abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. The fiery New York Democrat said she didn’t believe Jesus would approve a group that supports “fascism” spending millions of dollars in his behalf.
Not being a football fan, I had called my grandchildren Brian and Sara before the game to ask who I should root for. They each picked a different team, so I decided it would be best to remain neutral. In that regard, I felt like I shared something with Ed and Donna Kelce, the parents of Jason and Travis Kelce, the brothers who played respectively for the Eagles and the Chiefs. I’m sure that the elder Jelces wanted was to see a good game, knowing that the team of one son or the other would win. And, I think most people would agree, a good game is what they got.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com
Thank you Don for the nice column about Dianne Feinstein, the greatest boss I ever had. She has been outstanding in representing California and serving her constituents, regardless of their party. Her years as San Francisco Mayor served her well throughout her years in the senate. She truly believed that “All politics is local, ” even when it involves sewage. In that regard, I was present at a luncheon meeting she had with then San Diego Mayor Murphy at the Westgate Hotel at which Murphy sought her support for the city’s request to the EPA for a waiver from going to secondary sewage treatment. She replied, “You want me to support you on this when, as Mayor of San Francisco, we spent millions of dollars to go to secondary? Next topic. The meeting ended amicably as they discussed a range of other matters. Afterwards, Feinstein had me deliver one of her signature floral scene paintings to Murphy. I left it with a receptionist in his office.