Local media is reporting on a House Ethics Committee review into U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison’s trip to Mecca that was paid for by the Muslim American Society. According to a report in the Star Tribune:
Days after his return from an unannounced pilgrimage to the Islamic holy site of Mecca, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison talked about it as a transformational personal experience, saying “I didn’t want to turn it into a politics thing.” Nearly eight months later, the Minneapolis DFLer faces a House Ethics Committee review of his decision to keep the trip’s costs under wraps — even though it was paid for by a local Islamic nonprofit and typically would be reported as a gift to a public official. Asked about the trip Tuesday, Ellison said that he is “not privy to the internal workings of the organization” that covered his costs, and that he complied with all House Ethics panel disclosure requirements. “Why should I waive a right that’s accorded me under the rules?” he said. Tax records show the group that paid Ellison’s expenses, the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, received nearly $900,000 in taxpayer money in 2006 and 2007 from a rental arrangement for Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA), an Inver Grove Heights charter school. The man who accompanied Ellison to Mecca, Asad Zaman, is executive director of the TiZA school, a political contributor of Ellison’s and was president of the Muslim American Society until August, when the Mecca trip was planned. TiZA has been sued by the American Civil Liberties Union and probed by state officials for allegedly promoting Islam, which would violate the church and state separation required of public schools — including charter schools. The school received state funding to pay rent to the Muslim American Society Property Holding Corp., a nonprofit spinoff of the Muslim American Society that owned the building. The corporation then turned over $879,000 to the Muslim society as a grant.
Ellison is the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Congress.
Previous posts have discussed both Ellison’s trip as well as the ongoing controversy between Minnesota State officials and the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) which, as the article notes, has close connections to the Muslim American Society (MAS) but also to Islamic Relief, both organizations having close ties to the global Muslim Brotherhood. The MAS was established in 1993 and is identified in a recent Hudson Institute report as a part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and closely tied to the Egyptian organization.
The Investigative Project has posted an analysis of the state records for the MAS, noting a number of irregularities in the paperwork.