MAS Freedom 'Voting is Power' Not Connected to Democratic Party Voting Campaign in...

MAS Freedom 'Voting is Power' Not Connected to Democratic Party Voting
Campaign in Louisiana

Right-Wing Groups Push False Information Concerning National Muslim Voter
Drive

WASHINGTON, June 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- MAS Freedom (MASF,
http://www.masnet.org/freedomfoundation.asp), the civic and human rights
advocacy entity of the Muslim American Society (MAS, http://www.masnet.org/),
has learned that numerous individuals and organizations on the political right
have recently embarked upon a campaign, through various internet-based "news"
sources, to openly vilify both MAS and MASF by falsely associating the MASF
voter registration, mobilization and education campaign, Voting is Power (VIP,
http://masvip.org/), to an investigation of possible election fraud in the
state of Louisiana.

The campaign, through no fewer than 16 separate cross-postings of similarly
accusatory articles, began surfacing on the internet June 12, 2008, directly
identifying MAS/MASF as having contracted with the national Democratic Party
to register voters in Louisiana.

An article posted on the web forum of conservative FOX news host Sean Hannity,
displayed a headline reading: "Democrats Hire Radical Islamic Group to
Register Voters - Fraud Ensues." Other headlines read, "Islamic Group Hired to
Register Voters - Result, Fraud" and "Muslim American Society Committing Voter
Fraud in Louisiana," which also incorporated unauthorized use of the MAS logo.
These allegations are absolutely false.

Here are the facts:
-- The issue related to Democratic Party voter registration in the state
of
Louisiana was first reported on June 11, 2008 by 2theadvocate.com,
produced by The Advocate and WBRZ News 2 Louisiana, in an article
written by Marsha Shuller, which accurately stated, that the Secretary
of State was meeting "with a Democrat-affiliated group responsible
for a voter registration effort - VIP is a Washington, D.C. group
hired
by national Democrats."
-- On June 15, 2008, the New York Times published an article written by
Shaila Dewan, reporting that, "A Democratic voter registration
drive - has raised complaints from registrars about large numbers of
duplicate, invalid or incomplete applications, and has led to an
investigation by the Louisiana secretary of state - Democratic
officials
said the - drive - was called Voting is Power."
-- Neither the 2theadvocate.com nor The New York Times, in their referral
to the Washington DC-based VIP group, affiliate the group with MAS or
MAS Freedom.
-- MAS/MAS Freedom has never been employed by the Democratic Party to
conduct voter registration campaigns.
-- The MAS Freedom Voting is Power (VIP) Campaign, was launched
(http://www.masnet.org/news.asp?id=351) in August 2003, as an
independent, non-partisan initiative for voter registration,
education,
and mobilization, and has never been affiliated with the similarly
named
Washington, D.C.-based firm 'Voting is Power', located at 1250
21st Street, N.W.

MAS Freedom is convinced that this latest anti-Muslim campaign of
vilification-by-false-association was not motivated by a genuine opposition to
alleged voter fraud; rather, its sole purpose was to augment an agenda to
discredit legitimate Muslim organizations striving to encourage civic
empowerment and engagement, and to perpetuate an unfounded climate of extreme
prejudice, suspicion and fear against the Muslim American community. Tactics
such as this are also used by the likes of 'terrorism expert' Steve Emerson,
who appeared on the FOX News Bill Hammer show and insinuated that the success
of the MAS Freedom VIP initiative, covered
(http://www.masnet.org/takeaction.asp?id=3893) in national media
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/12/politics/main567750.shtml), should
be viewed with suspicion.

MAS Freedom will not be dissuaded by the false allegations of pundits and
bigots. We will continue to exercise our rights as citizens to register,
educate, mobilize, and vote.

SOURCE MAS Freedom

Mahdi Bray, Executive Director of MAS Freedom National, +1-202-552-7414, Cell:
+1-202-421-3623