Connolly Taking Cash from Terrorists?

Connolly...no surprise here. Will be curious to see how he defends this.

NEWS
For Immediate Release Contact: Jessica Dues
June 30, 2008 (202) 547-8570

TVC TELLS CONNOLLY:
RETURN CONTRIBUTION FROM RADICAL ISLAMIC LOBBY

Connolly Contributor Uses Aliases and Has Links to Hamas

Washington, DC – The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) has called on Fairfax County Supervisor Gerald Connolly to return a contribution his Congressional campaign received from a radical Islamic official and reopen the supervisors’ lease renewal of the Islamic Saudi Academy.

A Federal Election Commission report lists “Nehad Hammad” as the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and reports that he donated $500 to the Congressional primary campaign of Gerald Connolly, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

Law enforcement officials note that Hammad is an alias used by Nihad Awad who is the founder of CAIR and is listed on the group’s website as its Executive Director. Before founding CAIR, Awad served as spokesman for the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) which the Federal Bureau of Investigation officials have identified as a front-group for the violent terrorist organization Hamas.

According to several sources, Awad uses the name Nehad Hammad on some official forms such as IRS documents instead of the name Nihad Awad he uses publicly as a top official at CAIR. One former federal official refers to CAIR as “Terrorists R Us” and points to a long list of CAIR staff who have been convicted of financing terrorist activities.

“Mr. Connolly should return the check he received from Awad, Hammad or whatever his name is today,” said James Lafferty, a spokesman for the Traditional Values Coalition.

At a May hearing of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Chairman Connolly attempted to bully and shout down witnesses from TVC who quoted parts of ISA textbooks. He repeatedly accused the TVC witnesses of bigotry and yelled “slander” several times.

“The cause of Mr. Connolly’s anger and vehemence in defending the Islamic Saudi Academy is now apparent. Are there other leaders of radical Islam involved in or financing Mr. Connolly’s campaign?

“Mr. Connolly has set a new low for what value-neutral politicians will do to raise money or pander to the most radical voting blocs. He needs to come clean and scrub his campaign of all terrorist influence and sympathizers.

“He also needs to right the wrongs he has done and bring the same passion to reversing the decision of the Board of Supervisors to lease a former county school to the Saudi government. He tried to pawn it off on the State Department which does not have jurisdiction in a desperate effort to save face. It is an affront to every Fairfax County taxpayer to provide classrooms to those determined to indoctrinate young people to become the next generation of terrorists.”



Traditional Values Coalition is an inter-denominational public policy organization speaking on behalf of 43,000 churches. For more information, call
(202) 547-8570. TVC 139 “C” Street SE, Washington, DC 20003. Web site address: www.traditionalvalues.org