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HAF Concerned over Hateful Blog in Kansas Election Campaign
Wichita, Kansas (August 13, 2010) - The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) expressed concern and outrage over statements on a blog which slandered Kansas’ fourth district congressional candidate Raj Goyle, a Democrat currently a Kansas State Representative. The blog gained immediate notoriety when Goyle’s Republican opponent, Mike Pompeo, linked to it in a Twitter feed to his supporters. "Just like his evil muslim communist USURPER comrad, barrack hussein obama, This goyle character is just another 'turban topper' we don't need in congress or any political office that deals with the U.S. Constitution, Christianity and the United States of America!!!” the posting read in part. The poster also made an issue of Goyle’s faith stating that he was not a Christian and that affected his electability.
The Pompeo campaign issued a statement of apology yesterday stating that it linked to the blog inadvertently, calling the incident a human error by a campaign staffer and said that the tweet was removed from Pompeo’s official campaign accounts within an hour of posting.
"The statements of the blogger in no way reflect my views,” stated the apology posted on Pompeo’s campaign website. “There is no place in campaigns or in public discourse for language of this nature. I have placed a personal call of apology and spoken to Rep. Goyle directly expressing our campaign's regret for the error." According to Mr. Robert Becker, Senior Strategist on Rep. Goyle’s campaign, Goyle has accepted the apology.
“We join Mr. Pompeo in publicly denouncing the bigoted statements against State Representative Goyle,” said Nikhil Joshi, Esq., HAF Co-founder and Board member. “The statements made by the blogger are not only offensive and hurtful to Rep. Goyle, but also to members of all minority faith communities in the United States. Christianity or any faith shouldn’t be used as a litmus test for assessing a candidate’s qualifications to run for office. Rep Goyle’s faith has no bearing on his ability to serve the people of Kansas.”
HAF has consistently taken a strong stance on religious liberty and has held previously that an elected official’s faith must not be distorted to promote religious bigotry and discrimination.
Joshi urged the voters of the fourth Congressional district in Kansas to caste their ballots based upon the qualifications of each candidate. Both candidates should be judged on their ability to serve the state of Kansas and uphold the Constitution, Joshi held, and asked that religious bias be eschewed in the process.