Tampa Bus Ads: CAIR to offer Legal Aid....Despite Being Implicated in 2 Fraud Cases!

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) had attempted for weeks get approval to run controversial #MyJihad Ads on Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) buses  which was met with strong opposition from members of the Tampa community and most HART Board members.

On Monday August 8, 2013, Creative Loafing reported on the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Agency (HART) rejecting an ad that would run on HART buses, saying that even though it was modified from an earlier request, it still violated the agency's ban on commercials that prohibits promoting a religious faith or organization.  

HART staff said the message, with its use of "jihad" and its more commonly understood meaning, violated its policy, and an attempt at a compromise that avoided use of the word, but used "Muslim" failed to win staff support as well.

It is not yet clear whether the highly successful counter campaign launched in several cities by Pamella Gellar of the AFDI/SIOA in response to #MyJihad and other Ads by Muslim Brotherhood fronts like CAIR played any role in HART's reluctance to place the Ads or not.

According to sources, the Issue of CAIR advertising on HART buses was pretty much dead, until it was resurrected by County Commissioner and HART Board Member Kevin Beckner, who appears to be shilling for CAIR.

This position seems to be supported in a statement by CAIR Tampa Exec. Dir. Hassan Shibly "CAIR-FL is appreciative of the commitment to diversity and inclusion shown by Commissioner Beckner, and we will regrettably be exhausting the internal appeal process before legal remedy is sought.”

A legal letter from CAIR Tampa's Communication Director Samantha Bowden, dated 21 August, 2013 cited the fact that St. Leo College had run ads to recruit students on buses in the past, then CAIR went on to assert this was grounds for discrimination and possible legal action.  The letter came after CAIR's subsequent denial by HART after changing their #MyJihad Ads to one of diversity at work and legal services for civil rights violations.

HART  is currently considering policy changes which would only allow companies offering products to advertise on their buses, thereby eliminating similar complications in the future.  This fact, coupled with CAIR's threat to litigate may have played a part in HART allowing the Ads to run.

While on the surface the new Ads by CAIR may appear to be less controversial than the #MyJihad Ads originally submitted to HART, this may not prove to be the case once the community learns that CAIR has been embroiled in two (2) separate Civil suits by the very people this "Civil Rights" group claims to protect.

The case(s) Iftikhar Saiyed vs CAIR (Civil No:  1:10-cv-00022-PLF-AK) and Rene Arturo Lopez vs CAIR (Civil No: 1:10-cv-00023-PLF-AK) are a result of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.  CAIR has seen significant setbacks in both cases in the past year.

While it was Morris Days out of the CAIR Virginia office, who originally perpetrated acts of fraud on almost (200) clients, it was CAIR National while under the leadership of  Chairman Parvez Ahmed, which compelled these disenfranchised minorities to sign agreements under duress.  An agreement which stipulated if they accepted a refund of monies rendered for service never rendered, these victims of fraud could not go to the media or authorities at the risk of subject themselves to legal action to include a $25,000.00 penalty imposed against them.

As my friend and 20+ year veteran of the CIA (ret), Clare Lopez stated in her most recent article "DOJ Slams FBI for ties with CAIR" ...It's been a tough week for the Muslim Brotherhood in America. First came the plaintive wail of "Legislating Fear: Islamophobia and Its Impact in the United States," a 162-page hit list from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) documenting groups and individuals it really wishes wouldn't be quite so effective at pointing out how the doctrine and sacred texts of Islam form the legal basis for Islamic terrorism.

The report's introductory letter from CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad leads off with a dismayed acknowledgement of the dramatic success of the American Laws for American Courts (ALAC) initiative, which has seen six state legislatures (now Seven w/N.C.)  – Arizona, Kansas, South Dakota, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Louisiana – pass bills designed to "protect American citizens' constitutional rights against the infiltration and incursion of foreign laws and foreign legal doctrines, especially Islamic Shariah Law."
Then the next shoe dropped. On September 19, the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General released its "Review of FBI Interactions with the Council on American-Islamic Relations." The report is sharply critical of the way the FBI implemented and managed its 2008 policy on curtailing contact with CAIR in the wake of overwhelming evidence about CAIR's ties with HAMAS.

The same day as the DOJ report was released, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), the influential Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (responsible for the FBI's budget) fired off a sharply-worded letter to FBI Director James Comey, citing both conflicting guidance coming from the FBI's Office of Public Affairs (with its emphasis on Muslim "outreach") as well as "outright violations from several field offices."

Moreover, as Wolf notes, given that the DoJ report focuses on only five incidents of continuing FBI field office contact with CAIR, there is no way to know whether, in fact, this is but the tip of an iceberg of policy violations inside the FBI. Wolf's letter to Director Comey concludes with his expectation that people be fired.

According to Hassan Shibly, he has worked with the Tampa FBI Field Office on various occasions....wonder if any heads will roll down there?