Romney cultivating Jewish ties
He meets leaders at local fund-raiser
Governor Mitt Romney, continuing to cultivate his relationship with the Jewish community, had a private meeting Sunday with former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and later hobknobbed at a major fund-raiser for the United States Holocaust Museum.
The event, which raised $1 million, was the latest in a string of engagements that the Republican governor has attended with prominent Jewish leaders as he considers a 2008 run for the White House.
The guest of honor at the fund-raiser was Nevada casino and hotel magnate Sheldon Adelson, a staunch Republican ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 19th richest person in the world, with a personal fortune of $15.6 billion. Adelson gave the Massachusetts Republican State Congressional Committee $10,000 last year, federal campaign reports show.
Also in attendance were developer Arthur Winn, who gave $10,000 last year to the Massachusetts Republican State Congressional Committee, and Theodore Cutler, a leading Jewish philanthropist who has given tens of thousands of dollars to Massachusetts Republicans over the years and $25,000 to Romney's inaugural bash.
Meir Shlomo, Israel's consul general to New England, said Romney has cemented a reputation as a solid friend to his country since taking office in 2003. ''The governor has been very understanding and friendly to Israel, and we appreciate it," Shlomo said.
In May, Romney attended Israel Independence Day reception at the Israeli consulate in Boston, and the governor has also scheduled a trip to Israel sponsored by a powerful pro-Israel lobbying organization, the education arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Romney put off the visit, originally set for this year, in order to concentrate his efforts on hammering out a sweeping healthcare bill with Democrats in the Legislature.
On Sunday, Romney made time for Netanyahu, whom the governor called an old friend. Romney and Netanyahu worked together at Boston Consulting Group in the late 1970s for about a year following their graduate studies, Romney at Harvard Business and Law schools, Netanyahu at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
''Had a very good meeting with 'Bibi' Netanyahu," Romney said yesterday. ''We both worked at the same firm for a year or so and shared stories of our earliest memories with the founder of that company, Bruce Henderson. And then we talked about how he and his team have rebuilt the economy in Israel, and then we talked about threats from terror and how to face those possible terrorist threats."
Steve Grossman, former AIPAC president and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Romney is doing a good job of establishing deep connections to Jewish power brokers, who could come in handy to a presidential campaign.
''If I'm Mitt Romney, I want to be at as many events as I can with Jewish leaders," Grossman said. ''This is all about relationships, and Romney is carefully cultivating them. When you look at the people there last night, this is a group he will rely on undoubtedly to speak on his behalf." 