Lampson to build on the support of Muslims (Gag Alert)

chron.com (Houston Chronicle) ^ | Nov. 25, 2006 | ARMANDO VILLAFRANCA

[rw4site]

Nick Lampson says he will be including input of Muslim- Americans in Dist. 22. Courtesy photo

Nov. 25, 2006, 9:21PM
Lampson to build on the support of Muslims
DeLay successor tells community with growing clout that he plans to remain accessible

By ARMANDO VILLAFRANCA
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

The Muslim-American community in Houston should know that there will be someone who will listen in the offices of the 22nd Congressional District, U.S. Rep.-elect Nick Lampson said Saturday.

Lampson, who will take over Tom DeLay's former seat in January, said he has never had as large an electoral base in any previous election as he had recently.

He attributed some of that to the Muslim community, which he courted by visiting mosques, homes of religious leaders and neighborhood meetings.

"This is the largest Muslim-American community that I've been engaged with in any election before," he said.

"My goal was to let them know me so that they would gain a level of confidence that they'd be comfortable in voting for me and I believe I won that confidence."

Lampson spoked Saturday at the Muslim American Society and Islamic Circle of North America's third South Regional Conference, "Islam 2006: Restructuring the Mind and Enlightening the Heart," at the Grand Plaza Hotel.

He spoke about building relations with elected officials, an issue of high interest among Muslim Americans in District 22 who perceived DeLay as being hostile to their interests and unsupportive of their concerns.

Political clout

Muslim-Americans are gaining political clout throughout the country, citing their 40,000 votes in Virginia that they think helped James Webb in his successful bid to unseat U.S. Sen. George Allen.

In the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Texas had the largest number of Muslim-American delegates with eight. Of that number, six were from Houston alone, double the next highest number of Muslim delegates from any other state.

In 2002, less than 1 percent of Houston's Muslim community voted in the national election. That number grew to 8 percent in 2004 and 10 percent in 2006.

Knowing the community

That growing political clout did not go unnoticed in Lampson's camp this year.

"What you gave to me was an opportunity for me to sit down and let you know what's in my heart and what's in my mind. And if you can gain that confidence, I believed I could win your vote, and if I could win your vote and ultimately win success by being your representative, then I have now the obligation to be here to listen and to take your words to a place where we can make a difference," he told a group of about 50 attending the forum.

Asked by someone in the audience if he planned to hire a Muslim-American for his staff, Lampson said, "I will have someone on my staff who is going to be a tremendous participant within your community and will have a very high level position on my staff."

Broadening dialogue

In his meeting, he said the war in Iraq and the strife in the Mideast came up often. He said he supports broadening the dialogue in Washington to pursue ways to deal with the problem.

"My biggest interest right now is seeing us listen to experts, military leaders, who are there and maybe taking our focus away from what I consider the political consultants who have been making a lot of our decisions," he said.

avillafranca@chron.com

[rw4site]

"Religion of Peace"

[padre35]

note to republican leadership,

If you are going to run a write in candidate, make sure that a simple name is used like Gibbs,Brown, Thomas.

Sikula Gibbs is rather hard to write in or remember for the average voter don't ya think?

[fhlh]

only if you're stupid...

[fhlh]

only if you're stupid...

[deport]

Sikula Gibbs is rather hard to write in or remember for the average voter don't ya think?

---

I don't think it was the name as much as people weren't aware of the need to make a write in vote if they wanted to vote for Sekula-Gibbs in the General.... I'd love to see the stats on straight party republican votes that didn't make a write in choice. She got about 15,000 less votes in the write in race than she did in the special election. It maybe name but I'd like to see the stats.

Lampson is playing his cards to the hilt as the Houston area has a large Muslim population with money.

[LOC1]

In two more years, there will be a republican on the ballot, and Lampson's record will be there for all to see. It should be an interesting race.

[originalbuckeye]

Giving our country away with both hands. The Dems, is there anything they do that's selfless or good?

[L98Fiero]

"Giving our country away with both hands."

And a smile on their faces.

[Redbob]

"Lampson to build on the support of Muslims"

"Lampson to serve single term"

(Or less)

[livius]

Just what we need. When I was in Houston this spring, I was totally stunned when driving through the courthouse area to see that the Muzzies had bought the old State Court building and now had a big sign hanging out front (over the classical columns at the top of the steps) reading "Islamic Dawa Center." Dawa means call to conversion.

The Muzzies have bunches of bucks in Houston, and they're using them well.

[Mamzelle]

Doesn't this guy also aspire to be a wheel in NASA policy making?

[anymouse]

smoke, smoke, puff, puff

[Eaker]

Puff?

Pix deleted here are not gone.............

[Eaker]

It should be an interesting race.

Think the Repulicans are going to put a monkey up again?

[Mamzelle]

Tom Delay was the single best, most passionate supporter that Israel ever had in the House of Representatives. Now we have a liberal beholden to Muslims in Delay's seat.