and you think Dems whine?!?

Associated Press
Oct. 5, 2003

CHARLOTTE — U.S. Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-North Carolina) blames the breakup of his 50-year marriage partly on the stress of living near a leading American Muslim advocacy group. He told The Charlotte Observer that he and his wife worried that the group was so close to the U.S. Capitol that "they could blow the place up."

Another stress on their marriage was the 1995 decision by "holier-than-thou Republicans" in the House to ban gifts from lobbyists, said Ballenger, a Hickory Republican. He said the meals and theater tickets from lobbyists once meant "a social life for [Congressional] wives."

Ballenger, a nine-term lawmaker, called the Council on American-Islamic Relations — which has headquarters across the street from his Capitol Hill home — a "fund-raising arm" for terrorist groups and said he reported the group to the FBI and CIA.

He told The Associated Press Saturday that he has no problem with Muslims generally but that he objects to what he believes are the group's ties with terrorists.

His wife, Donna, said Saturday that the couple kept a close eye on the group since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and worried that the group's activities might jeopardize security on Capitol Hill.

"This gang across the street is questionable," she said Saturday.

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the group, which looks out for Muslims' civil rights and sponsors interfaith gatherings, said Friday that Ballenger's unsubstantiated remarks were bigoted.

"It's unworthy of an elected official at the national level," Hooper said. "You wonder what he's been doing in Congress if this is the kind of analysis he does: 'You're a Muslim, so you're guilty.' "

Ballenger first made the comments Wednesday during a phone interview with the Observer, in which he discussed his separation from his wife in November.

In December, Ballenger said then-Rep. Cynthia McKinney, an African-American from Georgia known for her abrasive style, had stirred in him "a little bit of a segregationist feeling."

He later apologized for what he called "pretty stupid remarks."

Ballenger said that in the post 9/11 environment in Washington, his wife was anxious about all the activity at the group, including people unloading boxes late at night and women "wearing hoods," or headscarves, going in and out of the office building .

"That's 2 1/2 blocks from the Capitol," he said, "and they could blow it up." Ballenger, 76, said the FBI and CIA had told him they were watching the group.

FBI agent John Iannarelli said all reports to the FBI are kept confidential unless an arrest occurs.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, founded in 1994, has denied suggestions by some conservatives that it has ties to Middle Eastern groups linked to terrorist acts.

It took out a full-page ad in The New York Times condemning the Sept. 11 attacks and sponsored an interfaith "Day of National Unity" in Washington on the anniversaries of Sept. 11.

"We meet with the FBI quite often," Hooper said. "Our chapters have town hall meetings with the FBI to discuss discrimination and hate crimes ."

Ballenger said constituent comments were generally supportive Saturday as he attended a museum dedication in Catawba and a school fund-raiser in Claremont.