Ed Shadid ran for state office in 2010. He apparently sought the endorsement of the Oklahoma Green Party, got it and posed in front of their party sign for a lovely photo (left). He lost the race. Today, he will be sworn in as Oklahoma City's newest councilman after winning this race.
Yesterday, at the State Capital, newly elected Shadid stood with CAIR Oklahoma, Andrew Rice, Imam Imad Enchassi of the Islamic Society of Greater OKC, Nathaniel Bathchelder and a few others at a press conference deriding those who supported an anti-foreign law bill (HB 1552) which died in the Senate Rules Committee last week. Let me repeat, the bill had already died in the senate committee the week before so this press conference was one of those political grand-standing moments.
Liberal Andrew Rice, who attended at least one of CAIR Oklahoma's fund-raising dinners in the past, said the bill was a non-issue (of course, it already died), was the result of actions of the far-right (the evil ones), was unconstitutional (to be determined) and was created by using fear (really?). When Shadid spoke, he said he echoed what was said before him and then talked about increasing convention business and asked legislators to considered this in future legislation. I first became aware of Shadid when CAIR Oklahoma tweeted several times the links to articles about the Shadid city council race urging people to vote. I tweeted Shadid twice to ask him what his religion was and he would not answer me which I thought was odd since most candidates for office readily discuss their religion with potential voters.
Below is the screen shot I took of the CAIR Oklahoma press conference when Shadid spoke and is available at CAIR Oklahoma's YouTube channel:
A press release by Senator Anthony Sykes clarified why the bill died in committee:
There has been a lot of misinformation generated that HB 1552 is the ‘No Sharia or International Law’ that was passed last November by Oklahoma voters with 70% of the vote. It is not. SQ 755 is currently on appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. A Federal Judge granted an injunction to the Council on Islamic Relations to stop SQ 755 from taking effect. HB 1552 is a bill requested by a Washington D.C. think tank in response to our SQ 755. While HB 1552 is a good measure, it does not come near to offering the protection that SQ 755 does to Oklahoma voters. HB 1552 merely passes a law, which is much different than the Constitutional Amendment the voters approved in SQ 755. HB 1552 may be an option in the future and can be considered at a later time.
...Further the passage of HB 1552 while the appeal of SQ 755 is pending would send a signal that Oklahomans have settled for a lesser version and would be used against us in our efforts to have the voice of the people heard. This fight is far from over, and has been going on for a while..."
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Also see:
CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood and more...
Download Www.searchtastic.com-index.php-User=ztruth-Search=@voteshadid--Page=1 My tweets to Shadid.
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Posted by: hr | April 17, 2011 at 08:25 PM