There’s A Train Wreck A’Comin
By Greg L | 12 March 2007 | 51st HOD District | 19 Comments
This just has to hurt. On March 8th I put up a straw poll on who readers would support in a matchup between Faisal “The Terrorist” Gill and Jeff “The Homosexual” Dion in the 51st District, which uses nicknames that have been growing in popularity among political junkies for about a month. The poll is fairly popular among readers, and with sixty votes recorded so far, Jeff Dion is leading 2 to 1. In case there were not enough jaws hitting the floor just now, let me emphasize this: among BVBL readers, who tend to describe themselves as Republicans, Democrat Jeff Dion is regarded as a better candidate for the House of Delegates than Republican Faisal Gill by 67% of the respondents. One pretty strong conclusion to draw from this is that Republicans are likely to cross over in substantial numbers and vote for a gay Democrat if their alternative will be Faisal Gill.
Of course the deciding factor here is that readers have been exposed to the information on Faisal Gill which would inevitably come out to voters during a general election. In the 51st District Faisal Gill’s name recognition right now is pretty minuscule, and neither his positives or negatives have likely moved much out of single-digit territory while the race focuses on the convention(s) among the party faithful in June. Once those are over, I think the race will rapidly look quite a bit like this poll, and the Dems will take the 51st District in a walk. About the only uncertainty in the race would be whether Dion could manage to outperform party machine John Jenkins, if Faisal Gill can be the foil against which Dion can do battle.
Can it be any coincidence that there’s been so little heard from the Democrats on this race? With Faisal Gill’s negatives among informed voters certainly in excess of 50%, he is a Democrat’s dream opponent, and Democrats certainly aren’t going to say much out of fear they might lose him as an opponent. How long are some Republicans going to play into this dream scenario for Democrats? Will their loyalty to Faisal Gill really allow them to stand by and watch this train wreck play out?
At some point, I think they can’t. That decision point is likely approaching very rapidly.
The opinions expressed here are solely the views of the author, and not representative of the position of any organization, political party, doughnut shop, knitting guild, or waste recycling facility, but may be correctly attributed to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. If anything in the above article has offended you, please click here to receive an immediate apology.
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Greg, it doesn’t have to be such a dismal choice as you have framed it here. If the Republicans nominate Julie Lucas, who has wide and deep support, she will be the runaway winner over any Dem opponent.
I think Greg was just making a point. Gill is not electable, period.
It will be closer than you think but yes Lucas would defeat Dion if he’s the candidate.
This is my blog of choice. Great work for the most part, Greg. But I disagree strongly with your characterizations of Faisal Gill. Faisal has the support of fine conservatives — former USMC officer Lingamfelter, Sen. Cuccinelli, Lt. Gov. Bolling, Morton Blackwell (founder of the Leadership Institute). Faisal is a committed conservative — he’s strongly pro-life, low-tax, and has a transportation plan that doesn’t involve raising taxes. I have asked Ms. Lucas her position on life, and taxes, and to date have not received a response. Her website does not give me warm fuzzies. She simply says she’s pro-life but says no more. That needs explanation. She’s against the car tax and the death tax but what about other taxes?
I have known Faisal for many years and he’s a man of faith and conservative values and would serve us well in Richmond. That being said, he does have to say what he believes as a Muslim that is different from fanatical Muslim that we all read about and strongly and publicly denounce terrorists and terrorism. He has been associated with a man he hardly knew who years later was proven a terrorist. I once had an acquaintance from church who I found out much later had committed a heinous act and was jailed for it. I sent money for his defense and believed in his defense, only to be told later that he had lied the whole time. Imagine how I felt. Does that make me an accomplice? No, of course not. As such, Faisal should be not found “guily by association.” Faisal believes in bringing in Muslims into the political process not so they could blow it up but to be involved as all good citizens should be. He has told me that he thinks his religion has been hijacked by a vocal minority and that that minority is saying and doing things he and many Muslims in this country find abhorrent and vile.
I just felt it necessary to stand by a friend.
Dave,
I appreciate and welcome your comments, and I completely understand why you’re choosing to support Faisal Gill. I want to be clear about this “guilt by association” meme which is getting passed around, because I think it misstates the basis for my concerns about Faisal’s candidacy.
If Alamoudi was the only issue here, Faisal would probably be worthy of the benefit of a doubt or two, and while it would be worthwhile to explain the issue, I doubt many would really hold it against him very much. My concern is that this isn’t at all the end of the story. Not only is there the Alamoudi thing, there’s the varying stories about his relationship with Alamoudi that have been given on different government documents, his association with two law partners who have disturbing ties with radical islamic organizations themselves including the Safa Group, his unusual political contributions and the apparent concordance between the campaigns he’s been active on and the incidence of Safa Group contributions to those campaigns. At some point these coincidences start to merit concern, and he’s not at all addressed these concerns in my view.
Then of course there’s Faisal’s pretty dismal record of leadership in various political organizations, his misuse of his uniform in order to benefit his campaign, and his failure to meet his physical fitness committments for the Navy at the same time he’s working as hard as possible to leverage the allure of being a naval officer.
I can appreciate that you might disagree, but I hope you can understand the reasons for that disagreement from my side as well as I believe I understand your reasons. In the end we have to make a decision about who will be the Republican standard bearer in the 51st, and part of that decision will be made on the basis of who we believe is a candidate who will win. Delegates Miller and Frederick, Senator Jay O’Brien, Supervisor Nohe, pretty much the entire School Board, and plenty of other elected officials support Julie Lucas as the candidate who represents us best and has the best shot at winning in a general election.
In the end, I think there’s a convincing argument to be made that a vote for Faisal Gill in a convention is a vote for Jeff Dion in a general election. That’s a pretty daunting reality to consider when supporting Faisal.
Greg, you are against Faisal because he is fat, and he is a terrorist, and he apparently didn’t buy the food for a picnic you didn’t attend.
Maureen, you aren’t going to support Greg on this are you? Because you are still a serious candidate for public office, and you don’t want to get labelled as supporting bloggers who call our candidates terrorists.
Dave, good to hear from you.
David Case writes:
“”"he’s strongly pro-life,”"”
Pro-life people don’t work for organizations such as the American Muslim Council whose leader Abdurahman Alamoudi promoted suicide bombings. Unfortunately Faisal Gill did work for the AMC.
Suicide bombings are inconsistent with a pro-life position. What if there are pregnant women at the restaurant or on the bus that the suicide bomber attacks?
“”"low-tax, and has a transportation plan that doesn’t involve raising taxes.”"”
Faisal may be for low taxes. In that regard I am troubled by his law partnership with Asim Ghafoor. Ghafoor was also Gill’s nominal employer when Gill worked as chief lobbyist for the AMC.
Ghafoor stated on Radio Islam in 2000 that he supported the imposition of sharia law in the US, which has an overwhelmingly non-Moslem population. Unfortunately, sharia law requires the payment of special extra taxes by Jews and Christian. Sharia law is inconsistent with low taxes for this reason.
If Mr. Core is going to continue to claim that Gill’s being a “man of faith” makes him a worthy candidate, then we ought to ask about faith in sharia law.
“”"have known Faisal for many years and he’s a man of faith”"”
It is one thing to say that Faisal’s religious beliefs are a private matter and off limits. It is another thing entirely to argue that Faisal’s religious beliers are, in fact, a reason to vote for him!
If Faisal’s religious beliefs are, in Mr. Case’s view, relevant then we are permitted to ask what those relevant views are. How does Gill view jihad?
“”"He has been associated with “”"
Euphemism for “worked as chief lobbyist for an organization founded and headed by”
“”"a man he hardly knew”"”
The question is not whether Faisal Gill was a good friend to Abdurahman Alamoudi. Rather, the question is whether Faisal Gill, while serving as chief lobbyist for the American Muslim Council, was a good lobbyist for him.
“”"who years later was proven a terrorist.”"”
Alamoudi’s radical jihadist views were well known during or prior to the time of Gill’s work for the AMC as its chief lobbyist. Customs agent Brett Gentrup stated the following in a 9/30/03 affidavit filed in federal court seeking the continued detention of Alamoudi (http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/usalamoudi93003cmp.pdf). “35. I have reviewed the transcript of a video tape of Alamoudi speaking at an rally in Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., on October 28, 2000. In this rally, Alamoudi the audience as follows:
“I have been labeled by the media in New York to be a supporter of Hamas. Anybody support this Hamas here? Anybody’s [sic] is a supporter of Hamas here? Anybody’s [sic] is a supporter of Hamas here? Hear that Bill Clinton, we are all supporters of Hamas! Allah akbar [God is greater]. I wish to add here I am also a supporter of Hezbollah! Anybody supports Hezbollah here? Anybody supports Hezbollah here? . . . I want to send a message. . . My brothers, this is the message that we have to carry to everybody. It’s an occupation, and Hamas is fighting to end an occupation. It’s a legal fight. Allah akbar! Allah akbar! ”
This statement and similar ones from Alamoudi were widely televised in the US in October 2000. As a result of the bad publicity both Hillary Clinton and George Bush returned the donations that they had received from Alamoudi.
As chief lobbyist for the Alamoudi-founded and led AMC it would have been Gill’s job to know about Alamoudi’s reputation. Gill had to have known, in 2001 while working at AMC, that Alamoudi was a jihadist.
“”"I once had an acquaintance from church who I found out much later had committed a heinous act and was jailed for it. “”"
That is really too bad. I am sure that all of us have attended houses of worship where one or more of the congregants engaged in criminal behavior.
However, what is at issue is Gill’s own work as chief lobbyist for the American Muslim Council. What did Gill do there? Why was he there at all? The organization is now defunct, precisely because it was led by a man now serving a 23-year sentence in federal prison for Libyan money laundering.
“”"I sent money for his defense and believed in his defense, only to be told later that he had lied the whole time. Imagine how I felt.”"”
I do not know whether Gill contributed money to his boss or client Alamoudi’s defense. Probably after Alamoudi’s arrest in 2003 Gill knew that it was in his own interest to cut all ties with Alamoudi and deny, deny, deny ever having worked for him.
“”"Does that make me an accomplice? No, of course not.”"”
On the other hand, having been a chief lobbyist for the criminal’s organization, an organization which was funded in part by the criminal’s activities, could have made Mr. Core an accomplice. Mr. Core’s relationship to the anonymous malefactor is quite different from Mr. Gill’s relationship with Alamoudi.
“”"Faisal should be not found “guily by association.” “”"
I agree. Faisal should be found unfit for nomination by virtue of his “guilt by participation” in the American Muslim Council as its chief lobbyist in 2001.
“”"I just felt it necessary to stand by a friend.”"”
Friends are often not in a good position to judge other friends. Mr. Core has already been fooled once, by his criminal fellow congregant.
Gill is not a criminal. However, Gill made a serious mistake when he worked for Alamoudi’s AMC as its chief lobbyist.
The problem with Gill’s campaign is that it says that it is okay to have been a chief lobbyist for a convicted terrorist and for a radical jihadist organization. There is really no doubt that with his various blood-curdling pronouncements Alamoudi was a real threat to all of us.
People in PWC are going to ask questions about what Gill did at the AMC and what his relationship was with Alamoudi. Did they meet? What did these meetings concern?
Stonewalling isn’t going to cut it.
Speaking of trains, why is Charles commenting on this blog? Shouldn’t he be at home, in his basement, playing with his trains?
“”"Greg, you are against Faisal because he is fat,”"”
False statement. Julie is also obese. The problem is that Faisal is a reserve military officer who is unfit for service. Faisal’s obesity is in violation of military regulations.
“”"and he is a terrorist,”"”
Faisal was a lobbyist for or on behalf of terrorists, i.e., for Abdurahman Alamoudi.
“”"and he apparently didn’t buy the food for a picnic you didn’t attend.”"”
Another false statement. BVBL has never claimed that he attended the Republican party picnic at which Gill, having been tasked to bring the food, did not do so. BVBL relayed complaints which he has received about Gill’s absenteeism and lack of diligence while serving in official PWCRC capacities, including food-bringer.
BVBL’s point is that Gill’s record as a campaign manager stinks (Gill forgot to file on behalf of his candidate Steve Chapman, making the candidate ineligible), his record as a PWCRC official smells (absenteeism and non-performance) and his record as a lobbyist reeks (representing the convicted terrorist Abdurahman Alamoudi’s American Muslim Council.)
Those who want the PWCRC to nominate the worst candidate imaginable for HOD-51 should go with Faisal. He has got it all!
“”"Maureen, you aren’t going to support Greg on this are you? Because you are still a serious candidate for public office, and you don’t want to get labelled as supporting bloggers who call our candidates terrorists.”"”
What a moron. Faisal is not the PWCRCs candidate. I have seen the same thing among supporters of the former Alamoudi ally Rep. James P. Moran, Jr. (VA-8). After Andy Rosenberg ran against Moran in the 2004 primary a local Dem official wanted to sanction Rosenberg for criticizing Moran too harshly.
The effort to punish Rosenberg, which was dropped, used the same theory as the moronic Gill supporter uses above. Namely, that even though Moran had not been nominated yet he was still the nominee. Critics of Moran were expected to peer into the future, observe that Moran would win the 2004 nomination, and then refrain from criticizing him during the primary.
I believe that everyone is getting bogged down in minutia and away from the primary issue (no pun intended), that Faisal Gill is quite simply unelectable for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is his past baggage. That’s really the bottom line here and, as always, there are opinions on both sides of that issue. Personally, I do not believe that he has sufficient skills or experience to serve his district or PWC in Richmond as effectively as Julie Lucas would. Name-calling and personal attacks serve to accomplish nothing more than devolving this into an emotional contest rather than one based upon reason. I really doubt that Julie would approve of lowering the process to those standards.
There is a backlash going on against organizations whose officials were jihadists or made no discernible effort to expel leaders who jihadists. Organizations like the American Muslim Council. AMC leaders and officials like Faisal Gill.
Some PWCRC officials continue to assert that Faisal Gill is an excellent candidate and a winner if nominated. If their assertion is so then I assert that I can win American Idol.
The evidence, however, does not support either contention. Indeed, Gill’s cancelled-and-never-rescheduled campaign kick-off demonstrates that the backlash against the AMC, CAIR and similar groups is having an impact. Even some of the former AMC chief lobbyist Gill’s endorsers don’t want to be seen with him.
“”"Name-calling and personal attacks serve to accomplish nothing more than devolving…”"”
Okay, but how do we point out that Faisal Gill was the chief lobbyist for the terrorist Abdurahman Alamoudi’s American Muslim Council in 2001?
How do we point out that Gill and Alamoudi’s AMC in the aftermath of 9-11 advised Moslems not to talk to the FBI?
The latter point is important, because some Gill supporters are attempting to deceive the public by claiming that the AMC merely advised Moslems to consult attorneys before talking to the FBI. That is incorrect. The AMC, some of whose members believed that Israel and not Al Qaeda committed 9-11, advised Moslems not to talk to the FBI at all.
The American Spectator reported in its 12/17/2003 edition that
“”"If the crack research team at the FBI had looked at the AMC website in the aftermath of September 11, however, this is what it would have found under the heading, The Law Says You Don’t Have to Talk to the FBI: “The FBI is looking for information to use against you, your family and/or your community. The FBI has a history of harassing and harming minority and immigrant communities. Some people are spending a long time in jail because they or their friends talked to the FBI.…FBI agents are trained to get you to make incomplete or contradictory statements — which later can be used against you in court. It is better to say nothing.”"”"
Nothing against your research into this matter Mr. Mark, but all this has been said and said again…your information is already out there and nothing is served by constantly repeating it but, as I said, devolving this into an emotional issue rather than one warranting a reasoned response. If you had new information, that would be different. The point is, Mr. Gill’s “baggage” is not the ONLY thing that suggests Gill is a less than exemplary candidate and would become a less than exemplary representative in Richmond, certainly relative to his opposition for the Republican nomination. He, as in the case of his buddy Steve Chapman, have only rhetoric whereas Julie Lucas has a resume without the cloud of scandal over it. Gill is, quite simply, unelectable.
There will be plenty of time to make nice with Gill’s poorly-informed followers after Gill critics have educated them about Gill’s and the imprisoned terrorist Abdurahman Alamoudi’s roles in Alamoudi’s American Muslim Council.
But until then the concern that I have is that Gill defenders seem not to be aware of Gill’s lobbying record in support of and on behalf of Alamoudi. Mr. Core, for instance, compared Gill’s relationship to Alamoudi to his own relationship to a criminal who attended his church.
The two relationships are not comparable, unless Mr. Core was also an official of an in-part foreign-funded (Libyan) organization that his fellow church-member founded. AMC Money flowed in part from Libya to Alamoudi to Gill.
It may be that Mr. Core does not know the full story of Mr. Gill’s work at the AMC. He thinks that the AMC was like a church and Gill and Alamoudi were like two church members.
I have seen this same pattern over and over again with respect to Rep. Jim Moran in the 8th. Once someone gets to be an incumbent it is IMPOSSIBLE to get party loyalists to criticize that person. Party loyalists will make up lies to get you to go away.
Jim Moran did not simply spring full-blown on the 8th District Democratic Party. He started out small. He was a member of the Alexandria City Council. And no one did anything. A court found him guilty of misdemeanor conflict of interest and still no one did anything.
Ordinary voters like me did not know about Moran’s problems. No one told us. I voted for Moran five times before I even knew that he had had a criminal record.
No one bothered to tell me or ordinary voters. For the sake of party unity everything was hush-hush.
I say that we should go after Gill at every opportunity. If he wins anyway then NO ONE will be able to say that they didn’t know about Gill and Alamoudi. No one will be able to say that no one had told them.
It doesn’t really matter what Julie wants. We will all suffer the consequences if a former official of the AMC is elected to the HOD. What Gill’s followers claim is tolerance would in fact be weakness. Alamoudi in 1996, like Asim Ghafoor, has spoken of instituting Islamic law in the US.
And the Islamicists are quite clear. They believe that once they have America where they want it then Americans will come over to their side and convert, just as some Hindus in India converted to Islam during Islamic rule there.
Gill may not be a jihadist. But he was willing to work with and for jihadists in the AMC. And for that reason I would find a Gill nomination to be an OUTRAGE.
Gill’s people think that Gill’s critics will get over it. Really, Gill’s critics need to show that we are only “over it” when Gill’s putative political career is over.
Until then I simply cannot bear to see someone making unrebutted ignorant statements denying Alamoudi’s leadership role in the AMC and denying Gill’s lobbyist role on behalf of that same AMC, ca. 2001.
“Until then I simply cannot bear to see someone making unrebutted ignorant statements denying Alamoudi’s leadership role in the AMC and denying Gill’s lobbyist role on behalf of that same AMC, ca. 2001.”
Mr. Mark,
Please keep up the rebuttals. Every time Charles tries to put a different spin on something, hit him with the facts. Every time a new defender pops in, hit them with the facts. In order for a lie not become the accepted truth, it must be confronted with the facts.
If you will note, Gill defenders love to compare Gill to some hypothetical, as did Mr. Core with his Church thing. The facts are the facts. They don’t change because you move them to a different stage to play on.
AWC is the Grande Dame of the blogs, and I rarely find fault with her logic. I would imagine that she is simply getting tired of reading the same facts over and over in the comments. She came to the conclusion long ago, before this was even discussed on a blog, that Gill was a poor candidate.
I too knew what Gill was about, but I say keep on telling the facts. Every time someone tries to defend him, hit them with the facts.
Anyone that is still in love with Gill’s run for public office should go to the library, check out “Infiltration” by Paul Sperry, turn to page 290 and confirm Gill’s affiliation with radical Muslims. In fact go to the index and there are a couple other references to his involvement. Now, do you really want to take a chance with this guy?
Well if Gill didn’t sue Sperry, as he is inclined to do, then Sperry must have had his facts straight. I can’t wait to hear what Frodo, I mean Charles has to say about this. On second thought, I might want to hold off until I can some extra-strength Exedrin.
Greg:
Not sure if you already have this but it is from an author’s interview from an investigative book called INFILTRATION by Paul Sperry–full interview link at bottom…
FP: There is also a problem with Muslim groups refusing to cooperate with authorities. Tell us about that.
Sperry: In public, many Muslim groups say they are cooperating with the law, but behind the scenes they’re circulating CDs in mosques right here in Washington telling Muslims not to cooperate with the FBI — under any circumstances.
Like I said, these Muslim leaders talk a good game, but they don’t have our best interests at heart, and that’s well-documented in my book. Some of these same pillars of the Muslim community have privately called for overturning our system of government, replacing the Constitution with the Qur’an as the highest authority in the land.
They’ve also circulated a secret Islamic spy charter that directs their agents to infiltrate sensitive intelligence agencies by taking jobs and ingratiating themselves with officials in those agencies with the object of stealing our secrets and influencing policy for the bad guys.
And what do you know, paid lobbyists for some of these leaders have landed jobs in the White House and Department of Homeland Security — with Top Secret clearance. One who lobbied for Alamoudi and against antiterror tools for law enforcement, according to lobbying records I uncovered, is now in charge of all federal government contracting. His name is David Hossein Safavian, and he was confirmed despite failing to disclose ties to Alamoudi.
Your readers can view his lobbying records as well as myriad other government documents, some classified, at the book’s companion website: http://www.sperryfiles.com/.
Another former Alamoudi associate, Faisal Gill, is working in intelligence at DHS. He also failed to disclose his past ties, which at a minimum raises serious suspicions.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=17681
I received a well designed flyer in the mail done by Gill’s campaign, he omits one important fact: he was a sposkman for a terroist organization that advocated destruction of the United States, shouldn’t that be part of his bio? Alamoudi started and led the American Muslim Council, Gill was theri spokesman, Alamoudi is an admitted terrorist who advocates the destruction of the US, why has Corey Stewart endorsed the mouth piece of a terrorist? If Bin Laden was running as a Republican I suppose Stewart would endorse him and load him up with contributions, has Davis also endorsed the mouth piece of a terrorist?
Mr. Core, Scott Lingamfelter is a retired ARMY Col. not MARINE.