Of course, here in the US, the chic PC Left doesn’t hold fundraisers for terrorists. But it finds other ways to help them out. Here is Bill West in FrontPage on the sad story of a Florida candidate for the U.S. Senate, Betty Castor, and Sami Al-Arian (thanks to Teri for the link):
The Democratic Senatorial primary on August 31 in Florida is fast approaching. One of the candidates in that primary, former University of South Florida President Betty Castor, throughout her campaign has defended her handling of Professor Sami Al-Arian during the mid 1990s. Al-Arian, accused of being a leading supporter of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization while employed at USF, faces trial in January in Tampa on Federal terrorism charges. Castor has claimed repeatedly she did all she could about Al-Arian while president of USF.
Castor said she “suspended” him and that was the most she could have done under the circumstances. Castor’s statements during her campaign make it appear she had the security and safety of the campus at the forefront when she took action in the Al-Arian matter. Documents obtained under Florida public records law reveal otherwise.
Two key memos from USF related to the Al-Arian case reveal that he was not “suspended” at all, as claimed by Castor, but rather placed on administrative leave with full pay. Suspension implies some form of disciplinary action. It’s clear from these two documents that no disciplinary action whatsoever was taken against Al-Arian….
It is clear from these internal USF documents that far from doing all she could, Castor merely accommodated Al-Arian by placing him on a full-pay administrative leave status so he could “prepare for the various investigations.” Is this how Castor “worked with law enforcement” as she has claimed during her campaign, by freeing the primary suspect, at full taxpayer salary, to prepare for the case against him?
Far from doing all she could in the Al-Arian affair, Betty Castor’s response was tepid at best and, in reality, served to brush the matter aside in an effort to avoid embarrassment, conflict and controversy for the university and her at the time. The voters of Florida need to decide if this is the sort of Senator they really want.