This is a must-read post from the Florida Times-Union’s Tia Mitchell: The Florida House majority leader, who has ties to the anti-radical Islam movement, called at least two Jacksonville City Council members to discuss the nomination of a Muslim professor to the city’s Human Rights Commission.
Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, reached out to the council members before their April 13 meeting, when a vote on Parvez Ahmed’s nomination was scheduled. The council voted 13-5 — including 11 of the 13 Republican members — to send the nomination back to the Rules Committee for further study.
On Monday, the Rules Committee voted 4-1 to send the nomination back to the council for approval at its next meeting, on Tuesday.
Councilman Clay Yarborough said Hasner suggested he take seriously the allegations that Ahmed, a University of North Florida finance professor, had extremist ties.
“From what I recall, he just encouraged me to dig into the situation and just do some research on it because there may be some genuine concerns,” Yarborough, the only “no” vote on the Rules Committee, said Wednesday.
Council President Richard Clark said Hasner called him shortly before the April 13 meeting to express concerns that he was hearing about Ahmed.
“He called me and said, ‘Hey, I don’t know how much you’re getting on this and a lot of this is reaching my desk in Tallahassee,’ ” Clark said.
Hasner told a Times-Union reporter he didn’t have time to answer questions when approached on Thursday evening. Continue reading here.