Mitch Ceasar is taking a chance with the wealthy retired Jews in Florida that are in his district and that did admire him. Israel and Jews don't exactly have a great relationship with Turkey. Here is hoping that politician Mitch Caesar is really sticking to the Gulen Movement with fees $$$.
A proposed Broward
charter school with ties to Fethullah Gulen, the mysterious Islamic cleric, hired
Broward
Democrat Chairman Mitchell Ceasar as its
lobbyist before the Broward County School Board. Known as “Gulen
Schools”,
followers of Gulen have built thousands of charter
schools all over the world. Last May, CBS News 60
Minutes television program documented
the growing Gulen school movement in the
United States. 60 Minutes
said Gulen, living in seclusion in the Poconos
mountains,appears only via video webcasts. Gulen, a
Turkish
citizen, was accused of treason by calling for an Islamic coup of the
Turkish government. The report
mentioned classified emails
released by Wikileaks which disclosed some in the Turkish government see Gulen
as“political leader such as Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini.”
The 60 Minutes report
covered accusations that Gulen schools abuse U.S. immigration laws by bringing
in t
housands of Turkish citizens to teach math and science
at the charter schools. An official with a Texas charter
school group called
the claim not sure” saying Turkish citizens are brought over because
of a lack of
“qualified” American teachers. But 60 Minutes found that visa applications for Gulen teachers listed them as
“English teachers.
” Oops! Some American
teachers claim Gulen teachers are forced to give a portion of their salaries
back to the
Gulen movement.
Paging the Broward
Teachers Union!
Dating back to 2007,
Gulen followers, under the name of Riverside Science Inc., have been trying to
open a
charter school in Broward County.
Their first try,
Riverside Science Academy, failed after school officials were unable to secure
a lease. Just
before the start of the 2012-13 school year, the group’s second try, “Broward Math And
Science School”, was
denied the right to open a Margate campus. CBS
4 News reported, “The district said each school failed to
submit documentation of certain provisions they had to meet before the July
20th deadline. The schools in
question were given several reminders of the
deadline and notified that ‘Failure to provide the required
documents within the specific timeframe terminated the charter
agreement.’”
So like any other
business seeking government influence, Riverside Science Inc. decided they
needed a
lobbyist. According to Broward Schools lobbyist records, the group hired Mitch Ceasar in December
2012.
Caesar, a Plantation attorney,
is also the chairman of the Broward Democrat Executive Committee.
Sure, local Republicans
and Tea Party groups will be quick to blast Caesar for helping the
controversial Gulen
followers. However, even liberals may find fault with the
Gulen schools.
The New York Times reported on State of Georgia audits which found Gulen charter
schools funneled money
and contracts to other Gulen followers. “The audit,
released Tuesday by the Fulton County
Schools near
Atlanta, found the schools made purchases like T-shirts, teacher
training and video production services from
organizations with connections to school officials or
Gulen followers. Those included more than $500,000 in
contracts since January
2010 with the Grace Institute,
a foundation whose board has included school
leaders. In some cases
the awards skirted bidding requirements, the audit said.”
Why is Mitch Caesar so
eager to help followers of a shadowy Muslim cleric funnel taxpayer dollars to
Turkey
and who knows where? Broward school dollars should be spent in
Broward, not in the
Poconos mountains or Turkey.
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