DONNELLY, CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR, CALLED ON TO REPUDIATE DEFAMATORY ANTI-MUSLIM FACEBOOK POST

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Minute Man leader/anti-immigrant candidate is endorsed by East County Assemblyman Brian Jones

By Miriam Raftery

May 6, 2014 (San Diego’s East County)—Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a Republican candidate for Governor who founded California’s largest anti-immigrant California Minute Man chapter, is now drawing fire for anti-Muslim remarks made about a prominent member of his own party.  

Donnelly, one of 14 candidates including five Republicans in the gubernatorial primary, has won the endorsement of East County Assemblyman Brian Jones as well as the Tea Party. 

At the state Republican convention, Jones said he believed Donnelly had heeded party leaders’ advice to be more “inclusive” in his message, Huffington Post reported,. Jones added that he believed Donnelly was “saying the same things, but in a more welcoming manner.”

But the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA) has found Donnelly’s latest remarks to be far from welcoming.  The group has called on Donnelly to repudiate an anti-Muslim Facebook that the CAIR-CA said falsely accused fellow candidate Neel Kashkari of being tied to Sharia law. 

Kashkari, son of immigrants from India, is Hindu–not Muslim, the site Loonwatch reports.

The post claimed Neel Kashkari made the U.S. submit to the Islamic, Shariah banking code in 2008 when he ran TARP. Donnelly has implied his opponent is part of a conspiracy by Muslims to take over the government.

Some prominent Republicans have denounced Donnelly over his recent remarks. State GOP Vice Chairwoman Harmeet Dhillon, said such tactics are “troubling and irresponsible.”

Kashkari, former Assistant Treasury Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department, is the son of immigrant parents.

The Facebook entry also included a link to a column by Frank Gaffney, who CAIR-CA said has a “well-documented history of anti-Muslim views and Islamophobic activities” documented in a CAIR report called “Legislating Fear.” That report named Gaffney as “one of the country’s leading anti-Muslim conspiracy theorists.” CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups and their leaders, called Gaffney “the anti-Muslim movement’s most paranoid propagandist” in a  listing on Gaffney at the SPLC’s site.  

The SPLC lists Donnelly on its short list of “extremist” political candidates from his run for Assembly, which he won. 

Donnelly has said that if elected, he wants to pass a state law to make it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally, as Arizona did, according to the SPLC.  In the Legislature, he cast the lone vote in favor of allowing Confederate flags to be sold on state property.

"It is a shame that an elected official uses xenophobic and anti-Muslim rhetoric to discredit a member of his own party. Mr. Donnelly not only demonized his opponent, but also alienated the entire Muslim electorate,” a CAIR-CA statement reads. “We urge responsible leaders of the Republican Party to repudiate Mr. Donnelly's smear campaign and to marginalize any member of their party who uses such divisive and hateful discourse."

For the complete list of candidates running in this race, visit the San Diego Registrar of Voters’ site at http://www.sdvote.com/voters/Eng/election/0614candlist.pdf .


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Comments

SO WHAT?

SO WHAT? cair is a known hate group with ties to terrorism and especially to hamas. while i do not agree with the comment regarding an opponent, i can give a rodents rear end what cair thinks. again they are a hate group with ties to terrorism and should be banned from the USA and all of the civilized world. the splc also mentioned is an extreme far left hate group also tied domestic terrorism and they should be treated like cair.

hate groups?

I am not that familiar with CAIR but I do have some familiarity with the SPLC and have never heard them referred to as a hate group, in fact they stand up against hate groups. Can you provide evidence to any specific examples for either of these groups that ties them to terrorism? If not then this comment needs to be removed as we don't wish to spread libel.

Figures

Leave it to us Republicans to shoot ourselves in the foot before the fight even gets started. If this keeps I may even vote for gun control!