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Faisal Gill Endorsed By Illegal Alien Apologists
By Greg L | 22 May 2007 | Illegal Aliens, 51st HOD District | 24 Comments
Faisal Gill has received the endorsement of the Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee (VMPAC), which is a small but somewhat notorious group that consistently supports the interests of illegal aliens over those of American citizens. On their website, the organization supports the following legislative initiatives:
- Erosion of civil liberties
- Human rights violations
- Unfair immigration laws
- Foreign policies of unilateral aggression
- Health care
- Education
VMPAC’s position on the issues seem pretty clear to me, as expressed in this endorsement of Democrat Greg Werkheiser in Fairfax County:
We must recognize that while our immigration laws need to be modified to cope with many new challenges, it is a Federal matter. If the Federal Government doesn’t modify or enforce the law, it becomes arbitrary and scary when the state governments try to take on the responsibility. It is particularly worrisome when the state legislators proceed to sponsor bills “to eliminate state benefits” for the so-called illegal immigrants…
Once a person manages to get through the US border and becomes a part of our community, unless he or she commits a crime, regardless of the visa status, that individual deserves to have access to benefits like basic health care, etc. – not only because of humanitarian considerations, but also for the benefit of the entire community.
VMPAC also endorsed Democrat David Poisson in Loudoun County, for much the same reasons. While “foreign policies of unilateral aggression” aren’t clearly defined on VMPAC’s website, it’s not too much of a stretch to believe these folks support a policy on the global war on terror somewhat similar to that of moveon.org. Their immigration policy seems consistent with Mexicans Without Borders. This is hardly an organization that Represents what we might term “Republican values”.
Contributors to VMPAC are few, and among those most have not donated to candidates in any election. The only VMPAC contributor who has donated to any campaign in Virginia previously is Naseer Naeem who supported Hilda Barg in 2005, and has also contributes to Senator Torticelli in New Jersey. Safdar Chaudry is financial supporter of Hillary Clinton. Once again, we see that some groups supporting Faisal Gill have little interest in promoting Republican causes.
Unless VMPAC has decided to abandon it’s long-held position on illegal aliens, this endorsement is strongly suggestive that Faisal Gill’s nebulous language in regards to illegal aliens does not represent a strong conviction on Faisal Gill’s part to address the problem at the state and local level with the tools available. Faisal Gill’s statement on this issue on his website reads as follows:
Illegal immigration is a serious problem on which the federal government is failing us all. State policy should discourage illegal immigration while the federal government enforces federal laws.
With only two sentences on this issue, it’s somewhat difficult to evaluate in depth how this attorney, who promotes on the website of his law firm that he seeks to represent clients facing deportation orders, really feels about this issue, but this is hardly a strong stand. Given that VMPAC, which opposes efforts to address the illegal alien problem and uses language somewhat similar to Faisal Gill’s stated positions has endorsed him, I would generally believe that Faisal Gill and VMPAC aren’t all that far apart on this issue.
The full text of this endorsement is not available on the VMPAC website, nor is this endorsement listed on Faisal Gill’s campaign website. Voters would benefit from more discussion of why this endorsement was made. In the meantime, this endorsement is deeply troubling.
UPDATE: For more about VMPAC, including how Congressman Frank Wolf vehemently disagrees with this organization, go to Front Page Magazine.
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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Faisal Gill: Now responsible for things that other people say!
Nice Logic.
Gill now has an opportunity to surprise people who hold him in politically low esteem.
He can surprise us by rejecting VMPACs support on the grounds that VMPAC accuses the USA of having unfair immigration laws and engaging in unilateral aggression.
“”"# Unfair immigration laws”"”
Does Gill agree or disagree with his endorser VMPAC that our immigration laws are unfair?
“”"# Foreign policies of unilateral aggression”"”
Does Gill agree or disagree with his endorser VMPAC that our foreign policy is one of unilateral aggression. Aggression against who? Saddam? The Taliban? Who?
This is not surprising. I can see why they would endorse Gill, based on the work Gill the Lawyer has done defending illegals from deportation. When Gill the Candidate says that he will get tough on immigration, it’s with a wink and a nod to this group. What he is counting on is that voters are so woefully lazy and uninformed, that they will never make the connection on their own.
It may have just been a typo in setting up the post, Greg, but, to be fair, VMPAC’s site does not say that it supports “erosion of civil liberties, unfair immigration laws, human rights violations etc…” It says that it shares concerns over those issues with other Americans. That’s about as uncontroversial a statement as any group could make, I would think.
Greg-
Why haven’t you done a similar post on Gun Owners of America endorsing Gill. I know you are tight with those guys. Have you inquired w/ them as to their rationale for the endorsement? That seems like a pretty big story, especially in light of all the negative stuff that has been flying around regarding Gill. I guess they believe Gill is a “law abiding citizen” huh?
Anon - I had shared your concerns but in a different way. When I saw Faisal obtain this endorsement, I immediately called Ms. Lucas to find out what she could have said on her survey to warrant them NOT endorsing her, especially since I know for a fact from talking with her in the past that she is a 2nd Amendment supporter.
Well, the fact is, Gun Owners of America NEVER even contacted Ms. Lucas!!! No survey, no phone call, no e-mail…nothing. Seems to me that that group had their mind made up before even sending the survey to Faisal in the first place. To me, their endorsement means nothing. If they HAD sent Ms. Lucas something and they did not like what they read, we would not be having this discussion today.
Maybe this could be a different blog article idea, huh Greg???
Let’s see, Gill has provided funds to Kopko, Stewart, Lingamfelter, and Bolling ($13,750 !!) . For all we know Gill could be paying Charles and Jim Young as well. Why not? He pays everyone else for their support.
I have never heard of the Gun Owners of America, but I have a good idea why this group may have endorsed Faisal without contacting Julie. ($$$$$$$$).
At some point we may wish to ask where all this money is coming from. I have a feeling that it comes through the lobbying group Sapentia LLC which Gill runs with noted sharia-law-in-the-USA advocate Asim Ghafoor.
Ghafoor is an object of some controversy. It seems that one of Ghafoor’s several Specially Designated Terrorist Entity clients named Al-Haramain was in Saudi Arabia, where its principal had fled to. Ghafoor was talking on the phone to the Al-Haramain official in Saudi Arabia, and didn’t know that the feds were listening in.
Now Ghafoor is suing the federal government for allegedly violating his or the Specially Designated Terrorist Entity Al-Haramain’s rights.
It might be a good idea if Julie would release her tax records and then challenge Gill, Gallinger and Gill, and Sapentia LLC to do the same. The results might be very interesting in explaining Faisal’s unexplained $13,750 munificence towards Bolling, the private schools for his four kids, the expensive car, the non-working wife, et al.
Republicans, look who Gill’s endorser endorsed in 2006…
http://www.masnet.org/takeaction.asp?id=3860
Is this the kind of person we want as the REPBULICAN standard bearer in the 51st Dist. HOD?
I think not.
Virginian Muslim Political Action Committee Gives Its Endorsement For 2006 Election
Date Posted: Thursday, October 26, 2006
————————————————————————-
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful
WASHINGTON, DC - Oct. 26, 2006 (MASNET) The Virginian Muslim Political Action Committee, which is a political PAC, has announced its statewide endorsement for election 2006.
Nationwide surveys show that the issues of erosion of civil liberties, human rights violations, unfair immigration laws, foreign policies of unilateral aggression against Muslim countries, health care, and education are considered high priority for Muslim Americans. After careful consideration of the track records and the positions of incumbents and challengers on these issues, VMPAC has endorsed the following candidates:
US Senate (for the whole state)
· Jim Webb (Democrat)
US Congress (Northern Virginia Districts)
· District 7: James M. Nachman (Democrat)
· District 8: Jim Moran (Democrat)
· District 10: Judy Feder (Democrat)
· District 11: Andrew Hurst (Democrat)
Please contact VMPAC for any further information:
If Faisal is that generous, I sure haven’t seen any of it!
One more of JM’s fanciful smears.
The Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee endorsed James Webb over George Allen.
Not at all surprising when you consider that a substantial portion of Faisal’s donations have come from Democrats. And Faisal got donations from leadership of this democrat-endorsing PAC.
And here’s a post from that bastion of liberalism, NovaTownhall, from October 2006 regarding the Virginia Muslim PAC:
http://www.novatownhall.com/blog/2006/10/virginia_muslim_pac_endorses_d.php#comments
And here’s some of the PACs thoughts on immigration and voting for democrats:
“Mukit Hossain, president of the Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee, said his group believes there are 60,000 registered Muslim voters in the state and he is working to mobilize voters to get out and vote Democratic…
One issue especially important to the group was local enforcement of federal immigration laws. The Herndon Town Council’s decision to train local police to enforce these laws was especially troubling, Hossain said.
“That’s the sort of mechanism we believe would be extremely dangerous for the Muslim community,” he told the Washington Examiner. “You are handing over a degree of power that is not necessarily warranted and can be abused, especially given the skimpy training [Herndon police] are going to receive.”"
“”"If Faisal is that generous, I sure haven’t seen any of it!”"”
But you admit that Faisal has paid Lingamfelter, Stewart, Kopko and most significantly Bolling ($13,750.)
Only an extremely naive person would assume that these sums of money, especially the five-figure payment to Bolling, do not influence their recipients.
So the suggestion that perhaps other Faisal defenders MAY also have a financial stake in supporting Faisal, while fanciful, is not a smear. It is a reasonable question to ask.
You will not understand why the PWCRC machine is lurching with Faisal over that cliff unless you separate their personal interests from that of PWC as a whole.
Clearly Stewart, Kopko, Bolling and Lingamfelter benefit personally from their support for Gill.
Looks like the Muslim pac operator has ties to terrorism.
You may or may not recognize this name:
—Mukit Hossain, president of the Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee—-
However, you’ll certainly recognize what he did — as leader of Project Hope and Harmony, he led the fight for the Herndon taxpayer-funded day laborer center.
I’ve HAD IT with all these muslims and illegals infesting this great U.S.A. All they do is complain, whine, and try to subvert our great nation. These invaders have no intent in assimilating into our way of life, but to undermine our freedom, values, and heritage that we hold so dear and so many Americans have died fighting to preserve. I say to these vermin…..GET THE HELL OUT OF MY COUNTRY!
Hey guys, don’t have a heart attack, but I agree (not with your attack on Faisal)
Illegal immigration is not just a federal matter. Now it is true that illegal immigration is primarily the failure of the Federal Government. A judge in Texas just noted that only the Federal Government can define who is legal or not. That’s one of those constitutional things.
But Illegal immigration is a serious problem in Prince William County that affects our personal security as well as our quality of life.
The federal government is failing us all regarding illegal immigration. Virginia should not be left with this federal responsibility.
What we need is legislators who will work with the Attorney General to do everything we can by law to discourage illegal immigration at the state level, and then push the federal government to enforce existing federal law.
Hey, John Light, when you were talking to Julie, did you ask her if she thought to call them and ask for a questionare to fill out? Did she even think that might be a good endorsement to have?
Maybe she got the letter and misplaced it. I do that with my mail all the time.
Julie’s issues page about illegal immigration says we should join the ICE program (which we are doing), and she opposes spending government money for day labor centers (she doesn’t say she opposes the centers, just using tax dollars).
She doesn’t even mention Help Save Manassas. JL, maybe you could fix that for her?
Julie doesn’t say anything about keeping illegals from getting in-state tuition, or denying them state or local benefits, or keeping them from free health care, or about overcrowding of housing, or anything.
She doesn’t say anything about getting the federal government to start enforcing the laws, or passing state laws to discourage illegal immigration in our state.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m fully with her on the two things she supports, but there is more I want to do than that.
Maybe they endorsed Faisal because he is a Muslim. That might be the most important thing to him. I’ve seen pro-life groups support pro-life democrats. Of course, since Gill doesn’t even seem to know he got their endorsement, and they aren’t telling us why, I guess we are just speculating.
Maybe they like Gill’s stance on defending our personal civil liberties. Hey, is that something this blog supports, or are you all against civil liberties?
Charles, to answer your questions in not any order. Ask Julie yourself why they aren’t on her website. Maybe it’s because of space. I have no idea - either her or her webmaster could answer that but I do know she is against the centers…I agree with you, her wording could have been more clear if it is not so on her website - good catch.
Charles, you also wrote: “Hey, John Light, when you were talking to Julie, did you ask her if she thought to call them and ask for a questionare to fill out? Did she even think that might be a good endorsement to have?” No, why SHOULD she call them??? Candidates don’t go begging for endorsements, Charles, groups who endorse come to the candidate.
I do agree with you on the part of why Faisal was endorsed. While you can’t always chose who endorses you, you DEFINITELY can speak out against a group who endorses you but you disagree with, for example, the KKK. Another strong message is to return money from people who you do not agree with, i.e. Jack Abrahamoff (sp).
Could you please clue us in on EXACTLY what Gill is doing to “protect our civil liberties”??? I seriously would like to know. Thanks.
JM said: “But you admit that Faisal has paid Lingamfelter, Stewart, Kopko and most significantly Bolling ($13,750.)”
I haven’t seen James Young “admit” that payments were made to those people.
We all know through campaign disclosures that campaign contributions were made to three of those named people, when they were running for election. Campaign contributions are not “payments”.
For example, I don’t think John Light is PAYING Julie Lucas for anything. He donated money to her campaign, and I doubt he expects anything in return for that donation.
For completeness, Here’s Julie’s issues page on immigration:
“We see the impact of illegal immigration more and more every day. We cannot promote and encourage illegal activity. We also cannot allow our local jurisdictions’ hands to be tied with this issue. ”
“Julie supports entering into a MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) to form a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security allowing ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) training for employees at our jails, our state police department, and our local law enforcement officials. We must do everything we can to keep Prince William and all Virginians safe and keep repeat criminal offenders off the streets. According to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department, the ICE training program “provides necessary resources and latitude to pursue investigations relating to violent crimes, human smuggling, gang/organized crime activity, sexual-related offenses, narcotics smuggling, and money laundering; and allows increased resources and support in more geographical locations.” This program will allow our local and state law enforcement officials to fulfill their duty to keep everyone safe.”
“Julie does not support using tax dollars to fund day laborer facilities.”
I mention the day laborer sites because they were very important to me, and when I was writing a couple of columns against the PWC version, Hilda Barg was very coy with me when I tried to pin her down on HER support for the centers (which she ended up saying she opposed LOCAL tax dollars, but was seeking federal and state taxes, and private funds, because she was FOR building the centers).
John Light,
I sometimes say that I am “naive” when it comes to politics. However, certainly you are not naive enough to actually believe what you wrote here: “Candidates don’t go begging for endorsements, Charles, groups who endorse come to the candidate.”
I mean, obviously some groups do just endorse without being asked, and sometimes even when you’d rather them not endorse.
But candidates DO seek out and beg for endorsements, both from popular elected officials, AND from organizations that will help turn out voters.
I hope you aren’t a political advisor to the Lucas campaign. I don’t know much about that task, but at least I know to seek out the endorsements that are important to you.
“”"Campaign contributions are not “payments”.”"”
They are payments. You can even pay on your credit card. You can pay cash. But you still pay.
Charles,
Again. Really.
Do you honestly expect a candidate, any candidate, to call the 5000 organizations in this state and ask them if they will be endorsing someone and if they would, pretty please, send a questionaire?
Sometimes I wonder if you engage the brain before the fingers.