Saturday, March 08, 2008

Star Tells Half The Story On Returned Contribution

There is bad reporting and there is deceptive reporting. I think Robert King's story in today's Star reporting that the campaign of Andre Carson had returned a contribution from a businessman our own government originally linked to terrorist activities falls into the latter category. King reports today:

Democratic congressional candidate Andre Carson returned a $1,000 donation from a man included but never charged in a 2002 terrorism investigation because, his spokeswoman said, that person doesn't "reflect the values" of his campaign .
. .

The donation, made at a Feb. 8 fundraiser, came from M. Yaqub Mirza, CEO of Sterling Management in Herndon, Va.

Until it dissolved in 2000, Mirza was an officer with the Saar Foundation, which became one of several Muslim nonprofits in Northern Virginia to fall under scrutiny in a 2002 federal terrorism-financing investigation. Mirza's home and offices were raided, according to a 2006 story in The Washington Post, but Mirza was not charged with a crime. Mirza did not respond to a call Friday to his business.

The Carson campaign returned the donation Feb. 20, according to its most recent financial disclosure in the race for the 7th District. Those filings showed Carson raised $376,000, more than five times the $71,000 raised by Elrod.

What Mr. King intentionally omits from his story is the fact that the contribution was raised at a D.C. fundraiser hosted by CAIR, an organization founded with the support of Hamas, which has also been linked to terrorist organizations by our own government. Carson traveled to D.C. to raise beaucoup bucks from out-of-state special interest groups. More than three-fourths of his campaign money has come from out-of-state, while close to 95% of Republican Jon Elrod's money has been raised from within Indiana, mostly from individuals. The Carson campaign's response from a DCCC staffer is increduluous:

Andre is a person who has a strong background in law enforcement, a background in homeland security," Jennings said. "If there is an individual who doesn't reflect the values of the campaign, if that's found out, their contributions will be returned."

Elrod's campaign was quick to point out that Carson has boasted of his homeland security experience from working as an anti-terrorist watch officer for the state's Department of Homeland Security as recently as six months ago. "He is a former homeland security officer," said the spokesman, Kyle Kasting. "Why did he take the donation in the first place?" King gives us that the contribution could be a problem for Carson. "Mirza's money could be a thornier matter for Carson, who is a Muslim running at a time when polls show a sizable chunk of the electorate has steep reservations about Muslim candidates," he writes. That's quite the understatement. Thank heavens for blogs who are doing the work of the mainstream media in getting the truth out to the public. If I hadn't hammered this issue hard all week, I highly doubt this story would have even made into the newspaper. At a certain point, even the Star understands it starts looking pretty bad when everyone in town is talking about the big elephant in the room it's ignoring on its news pages.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

He was never a "Homeland Security
Officer". In worker's comp terms,
at most he was a "borrowed servant."

Gary R. Welsh said...

anon 9:37, To be precise, he was still a state excise police officer who was on assignment to the Fusion Center within the state's Dept. of Homeland Security. Why the Daniels administration gave him this assignment has been a source of much speculation. The influence of Lacy Johnson in the Daniels administration is not at all pleasing to many Republicans.

Anonymous said...

I'm proud of my Elrod yard sign, I keep it safe for the primary.

Anonymous said...

I would like to know a little more about this reporter Robert King. Until the last week or so I never saw his name under any news regarding this campaign.
To me, it appears that King is has been given the assignment of damage control for Andre Carson.
Yes, King's article left 99% of the real story out about this cash coming in to Carson from CAIR and it's extremely disturbing that he did. For King to write such a slanted breviated article indicates that King condones what Carson did. Andre may be dumb but he's not stupid, he knew damn good and well where the money from that secretive CAIR fundraiser came from.
For any other candidate than Andre Carson any where in the United States taking blood money from a group that raises blood money would have doomed that candidate.
You are correct Gary, if you had never broke this story it would have never been brought to the voter's attention.
Perhaps Indianapolis Star reporter Robert King would like to see the handy work of what rocket propelled grenades, financed by American Muslim groups, such as those supporting Carson, do to our soldiers from Indiana.
Next time King hits his keyboard he might want to wash the blood of Indiana's dead off before he takes to writing half truths like he did today.

Gary R. Welsh said...

anon 10:10, King has been the religious reporter for the Star. Typically, this story would have been done by the Star' Washington bureau reporter, Maureen Groppe, or State House reporter Mary Beth Schneider. Neither Groppe nor Schneider have been inclined to do any investigative reporting on Carson. Remember, Schneider jumped all over the non-story about Elrod signing campaign letters on the House floor and made it front-page news, which was spoon-fed to her by Jen Wagner of the Indiana Democratic Party. The Star has refused to report on any of the damaging information about how under-qualified Carson was at the time for being hired on as a state excise officer, his questionable use of Sheriff's Department employees on behalf of his campaign, who's really financing his campaign and so on. This is the same problem we had with the Star's coverage of Carson's grandmother, Julia. Her opponents got nailed to the wall for the slightest indiscretions, while Julia's problems were buried.

Anonymous said...

Like...you actually expect a real story from this left-wing rag?

Anonymous said...

I just read the paper edition of the Star today. This story was buried back in the local section next to the obituaries. Do you think that was deliberate? I think so.

Jon E. Easter said...

I'll be looking for the Four Horseman when the Star becomes a "left wing rag".

Anonymous said...

Heaven help us if Louis Farrakhan's emmissary is sent to congress....