LA Times: Muslim candidate for Irvine City Council gets death threat

Muslim candidate for Irvine City Council gets death threat
Attorney Todd Gallinger says the threat was sparked by his opponent, Councilman Steven Choi, who has tried to link an Islamic civil rights group to terrorism. Gallinger has worked for the group.

By H.G. Reza and Tony Barboza, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 10, 2008


A Muslim candidate for the Irvine City Council said Thursday that a councilman's comment linking an Islamic civil rights group to terrorism has led to a death threat against him. Police said they are investigating.

Attorney Todd Gallinger, a Muslim convert, said a man called his office Tuesday, about three weeks after Councilman Steven Choi spoke at a forum and urged voters not to support a candidate who worked for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The council, which has 35 offices in the United States and Canada, is "a dangerous Islamic organization," Choi told 150 business leaders. Although he did not name Gallinger, the comment was clearly aimed at the 29-year-old lawyer, who has done legal work for the council's Southern California chapter in Anaheim.

Gallinger said the caller thought he was talking to him but told an employee, "I want to cut off your head just like all the other Muslims deserve."

"It's clear that the person was motivated by the political attacks against me by my opponent," Gallinger said.

Police spokesman Rick Handfield confirmed Thursday that the department is investigating the alleged threat. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-threat10-2008oct10,0,6035158.story

It's so sad that all this is happening...

God willing, this kind of fear and hate will be replaced with understanding and tolerance in the Obama era.

was a Communist organization, and that the Black Muslims were out to kill all white folks.

Trouble is that Muslims in this nation are scared, and rightly so--remember the gassing of the mosque a few weeks ago? There are nutcases ready to kill Muslims.

The weird thing is that no one by that name had ever owned the house, and no one by the name was in our local phone book. I went to CAIR's site to contact them to let them know it was an error, but they never responded. I brought the thing (which felt like a big book) to the PO an marked it 'undeliverable." I have no idea what the story is on CAIR, but in trying to find a contact email on there, it seemed legit.

we have to go after an entire religion, along with any one with Arab-sounding names. That's a lot of hearings.