Free Republic

With just weeks before the election and Republican candidate Marco Rubio already finalizing plans to make it rain at his victory party, some had rumored out loud that the Democrats might consider dropping out of the race to give independent Charlie Crist a fighting chance at the U.S. Senate seat. Not gonna happen. Democrat candidate Kendrick Meek made it crystal clear that he is going nowhere, both in the polls and as far as leaving the Senate race is concerned. "I'm not going anywhere except the United States Senate," Meek released in a statement today. "Because if they want to...

  Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) lobbied against the federal investigation of a Muslim professor whose charity is suspected of funding Osama bin Laden, according to 2006 documents.The congressman appealed to several federal agencies on behalf of Islamic scholar Anwar Hajjaj, and complained that the terror-linked teacher dealt with "unwarranted scrutiny" when he returned through U.S. airports from trips to Middle Eastern countries.According to letters obtained by the New York Post, Meeks described Hajjaj as a "highly regarded" scholar who led Friday prayers on Capitol Hill. The congressman also called the professor "a pioneer in distance-based learning of Islam" at the...

US Rep. Gregory Meeks scolded immigration officials for questioning a Muslim scholar whose nonprofits have been linked to financing terrorism. The Queens Democrat contacted federal agencies -- finally appealing to then-Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff -- asking why Anwar Hajjaj faced "unwarranted scrutiny" when he returned to the United States from trips abroad through JFK Airport. Meeks described Hajjaj as a "highly regarded" professor of Islamic studies who leads Friday Muslim prayers at the Capitol. Meeks said Hajjaj was "a pioneer in distance-based learning of Islam" through the American Open University in Virginia, according to a copy of the Sept....

The race for the U.S. Senate in Florida continues to be all about Governor Charlie Crist and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, regardless of which Democrat they face. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Florida shows Rubio with 38% of the vote and Crist at 33% if Congressman Kendrick Meek is the nominee. Meek earns 21%. Only one percent (1%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided. If billionaire Jeff Greene is the Democratic candidate, Crist gets 37% support to Rubio’s 36%, with Greene trailing at 20%. two percent (2%) like another...

Edul Ahmad, the Guyanese-born businessman who made an unsecured $40,000 loan to Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), is today scrutinized by the New York Times and New York Post. Reporters started digging on Meeks after NLPC raised questions about the Queens congressman’s finances, beginning in January. According to the New York Times piece by Danny Hakim: The generous terms of the loan have raised questions about Mr. Ahmad and his political relationships. New details about Mr. Ahmad’s past emerged after The New York Times submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the New York Department of State, which investigates...

ALBANY — John L. Sampson, the State Senate leader, performed legal work for a Queens real estate broker who was being investigated by state authorities on allegations of fraud and predatory lending, and was disciplined for acting as a notary for the broker after his notary license had expired, according to state documents. The broker, Edul Ahmad, has been at the center of a loan scandal involving United States Representative Gregory W. Meeks of Queens, who this month admitted that he had failed to disclose a $40,000 loan from Mr. Ahmad on his federal filings. The loan appeared to...

At the same time that Guyanese-born businessman Edul Ahmad gave Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) an unsecured $40,000 personal loan, he was pleading poverty to state authorities who had suspended his real estate license, according to Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein in yesterday’s New York Post. Meeks failed to report the 2007 loan on his annual financial disclosure report, that all member of Congress are required to file, until June of this year after the FBI reportedly started asking questions about the loan. Meeks has repeatedly referred to Ahmad as his “friend,” but when asked by the New York Post last...

Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) against Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), alleging he violated federal law and House rules by accepting $40,000 from a New York businessman and failing to include it on his personal financial disclosure reports (PFDs). CREW’s complaint is based on a series of articles by the New York Daily News reporting that Rep. Meeks received $40,000 from Ed Ahmad in 2007. Although Rep. Meeks now calls the money a loan, he received the funds without offering collateral, and without an interest rate,...

On Saturday, Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY) made the following statement: Beginning at the height of the selection process for Aqueduct Racino development investors as I fought for local participation, and for the past several months, right-wing interest groups such as the National Legal and Policy Center and sensationalist media outlets have lodged unfounded attacks against me and other respectable members of the Queens community related to my family home and my involvement with New Direction Local Development Corporation.While speaking out against these baseless allegations, I felt it was important to confirm that I have been in full compliance with the...

Queens congressman Gregory Meeks appears to have turned to a major Democratic fund-raiser to help him settle a secret $40,000 loan after the FBI began probing the deal.Last month, Meeks borrowed $59,650 from a Westchester-based investment firm owned by Dennis Mehiel, a businessman and one-time candidate for New York lieutenant governor.Days later, he paid $59,000 to Ed Ahmad, a Queens businessman from whom he borrowed $40,000 in 2007. The additional cash was meant to cover interest Meeks said he owed on the first loan.Meeks originally borrowed the money from Ahmad in January 2007 to help cover the cost of...

Queens Congressman Gregory Meeks made no payments for three years on a secret $40,000 personal loan - and repaid the cash only when the FBI started asking questions, the Daily News has learned.Meeks received a check for $40,000 from Queens businessman Ed Ahmad in January 2007 to finish paying off his new $830,000 home, two sources familiar with the matter said.There was no discussion about interest rates, due dates or collateral requirements for the loan, the sources said, and Meeks did not report it on his 2007 and 2008 financial disclosure forms.The congressman made no payments on the loan until...

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) is one of 31 House conferees appointed by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) on the financial regulation bill. When he was named on June 9, Meeks claimed: As conferee I plan to make sure that by having a strong presence of financial oversight and accountability in this legislation U.S. consumers will have the necessary financial protection and be as financially informed as possible. But now Meeks is using “oversight” in a different context. You see, when he failed to disclose $55,000 in personal loans as required, he called it an “oversight.” This excuse sounded downright familiar to...

A bill in Congress, co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Greg Meeks (D-Jamaica), would restrain the very ethics panel that may be charged with investigating an alleged sweetheart deal for Meeks' Jamaica home. U.S. Rep. Greg Meeks is co-sponsoring a bill that would limit an ethics agency’s ability to publicize its investigations. In March, the National Legal and Policy Center issued a complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics alleging that in 2006 Meeks got a sweetheart deal from the Dennis Organization for his newly-built mansion, paying $830,000 in October 2006 for a home that a year later was valued at $1.23...

Queens Congressman Gregory Meeks says his failure to disclose $55,000 in personal loans he obtained over the past three years is an "oversight."Sunday's Daily News revealed the Queens Democrat had failed to list on public financial disclosure statements a $40,000 "personal loan" he got in 2007 and one for $15,000 he got in 2008. In a statement to The News, he refused to describe what the loans were for, or their terms and conditions. He also was vague about why he suddenly confirmed the existence of the loans, saying only that he had personally ordered up a "careful and detailed review"...

Congressman Gregory Meeks has received tens of thousands of dollars in personal loans that he didn't report publicly, the Daily News has learned.Meeks (D-Queens) admitted to The News late Friday that in the past three years, he has obtained two loans totaling $55,000 that he did not reveal on the financial disclosure forms he's required to file with the U.S. House clerk.He says he obtained one loan with an initial principal of $40,000 in 2007 and says he since has paid it back. Meeks says he got a second personal loan in 2008 with an initial principal of $15,000...

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Gregory Meeks lives pretty large for someone without any assets -- at least that's what he claims on his latest financial disclosure. For the third year in a row, Meeks (D-Queens) reported no assets -- no retirement account, no investments, no savings -- on his annual financial disclosure to Congress. That's despite living in a posh house for which he spent $830,000 in 2006. At the time, it was valued at more than $1.2 million. Meeks, who is being probed by the feds over missing charity money and other possible wrongdoing, lives off his $174,000 congressional salary...

A nonprofit founded by Rep. Gregory Meeks took in more than $1.2 million in taxpayer money over the past 15 years with little to no oversight as to how it was spent, The Post has found. Meeks funneled pork-barrel money to the Rockaway Peninsula Civic Association as a state assemblyman in the 1990s. He incorporated the charity, which was once based at his parents' house in Far Rockaway, in 1983. It is the second suspicious nonprofit linked to the Queens Democrat. The organization had grand plans for a comprehensive after-school program for "at risk" students, similar to the successful Jackie...

WASHINGTON -- Embattled Rep. Gregory Meeks wants to muzzle the independent ethics watchdogs that Democrats unleashed after taking control of Congress. Meeks (D-Queens), who is being probed by the feds for missing charity money and other possible wrongdoing, co-sponsored a bill that would rein in the new Office of Congressional Ethics. Another New Yorker, Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn), also was among the 20 lawmakers who signed on to the bill that was quietly introduced last week. All the co-sponsors are members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Neither Meeks' nor Clarke's offices responded to questions about the legislation. The bill would...

It appears that newly Independent Senate candidate Charlie Crist may find support from key Democrats, including the Obama White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Crist announced April 28 that he is breaking away from the Republican Party to run for the U.S. Senate as an Independent. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid placed a call to Crist last week. Reid has refused to say what they discussed, but the Journal says that "some Crist allies are taking it as a sign of cooperation to come." Also, sources say the White House has...

There are going to be a lot of races this year where a Republican leaning third party candidate would do Democrats a lot of good. The Florida Senate race is not going to be one of them. If Charlie Crist's independent run has any impact on Kendrick Meek's chances of winning it's likely to be negative. Here are three reasons why: -In a hypothetical three way contest last month we found Crist winning 32% of Obama voters but only 22% of McCain voters. Even before making his departure from the Republican Party a reality he was pulling more from likely...