Muslim Political Progress I had lunch a little while ago with several of Southern California's Muslim political activists. The lunch featured the Executive Director of MPAC who was joined by the current President of the Committee of Pakistan American Affairs (COPAA) and one of COPAA's past Presidents. We took stock of the current situation of Muslim political involvement in Southern California, and also what steps we could take in the future to improve our ability to advance the Muslim cause.
Overall, the feeling was that we as a community have made great strides in terms of sophistication in the last 5 years. We are more savvy and less naïve about how the system works. However, we are still in the nascent stage of development and much work needs to be done.
One example of our overall success was the relationship built with the new Congressman from Glendale, Democrat Adam Schiff. Congressman Schiff received key support from the Muslim community, both financial and electoral in his race against the incumbent James Rogan. Rogan's aide attacked the director of MPAC during the campaign in an incident for which he later apologized. Congressman Schiff, during a fundraiser I attended, verbally promised to hire a Muslim on his staff if elected. Schiff delivered on that promise after the election, and went to MPAC for a full-time opening for the very plum position of legislative affairs director. At this point, we dropped the ball. We were unable to provide a high quality candidate who could immediately join his staff. We had two good candidates who were qualified, but one chose to go to law school, and the other had personal conflicts that kept her from accepting the position.
After discussing this issue, we decided we need a pool of candidates available who have an interest in working as congressional aides. Good candidates would be college graduates and law school graduates who are interested in gaining political experience. If you or your children fit this bill, then send your resume by e-mail to me or MPAC at MPACUSA@aol.com.
We need to have a ready pool of good talent that we can quickly mobilize when the opportunity arises. If you have a good relationship with a local congressman, find out if he has open positions, and pus him to take on Muslim staffers.
Another issue is the duplication of effort, which is a serious problem in many regions of the country. In the Los Angeles Mayor's race, which will be decided in April 3, different Muslim groups are fundraising for the same candidate. This is fine, but we should definitely coordinate our efforts more closely. An e-mail newsgroup link between all the major Muslim groups such as MPAC, COPAA, AMA, AMPCC, and CAIR should be established so that leaders know what everyone is planning or doing rather than being blindsided. This kind of umbrella linkage between all the Muslim groups should be pursued and strengthened not just locally, but nationally. We are a growing community, and can certainly support many different organizations, but we should work together and make the effort to pull in the same direction.
The highlight of Muslim political strength in this last election was the 50,000-dollar fundraiser for Hilary Clinton's Senate run. The lowlight was the return of that 50,000 dollars. One hothead with his overheated rhetoric embarrassed the entire community and resulted in a humiliating return of our contributions. The touchiest issue for us Muslims in American politics is Israel and Middle East terrorism. We should always stand for justice and freedom for the Palestinians, but it is a mistake for anyone here to declare support for particular Palestinian groups operating in Palestine. Once you have done that, you can easily be tarred with guilt by association when those same groups use reprehensible methods in their cause, no matter how just the cause might be.
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