Thursday, March 02, 2006

Second Jewish member resigns from Ill. hate crimes panel

The situation over Nation of Islam member Sister Claudette Muhammad's membership on the Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes continues to be an embarrasment for Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Earlier today, the Anti-Defamation League's Lonnie Nasatir resigned from the panel. Blagojevich quickly replaced Nasatir with State Representative Lou Lang, who like Nasatir, is Jewish.

(Marathon Pundit is a Lang constituent.)

However, AP is reporting tonight that a second Jewish member of that panel, Richard Hirschhaut of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, has left the commission as well.


Can it get worse for the governor? It sure can. Blago's effort to spin himself out of this mess made him look like doesn't have a clue about what is going on in state government. Which is a shame, because he is the chief executive of Illinois. (The italics in the below excerpt I added for emphasis.)

From AP:

The governor's office did not comment further on Nasatir's resignation and did not return phone calls seeking comment on Hirschhaut's.

On Wednesday, Blagojevich expressed support for Claudette Marie Muhammad, director of community outreach for the Nation of Islam, led by the Rev. Louis Farrakhan.
Nasatir and Muhammad joined the commission in August. It was created in 1999 to But Blagojevich said he did not know he had appointed Muhammad until learning about it from news reports, and wished his staff had discussed it with him.foster education and help implement anti-discrimination laws.

Muhammad recently invited commission members to attend a Farrakhan speech in which he accused "Hollywood Jews" of "promoting lesbianism, homosexuality" and other "filth."

Blagojevich, a Democrat, said Farrakhan's comments are no reason to dismiss Muhammad as long as she believes in the panel's goals.

As I've noted before, Muhammad, also known as Claudette Johnson, isn't "just a member" of Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam. She's its minister of protocol--whatever that is.


Previous Marathon Pundit posts on this subject:
Anti-Defamation League quits Ill. hate crimes panel over Nation
of Islam appointee

Farrakhan adviser on Illinois hate crimes panel refuses to quit
Farrakhan adviser a member of Illinois' hate crime panel

Technorati tags:

No comments: