The pro-Obama president of an embattled Miami synagogue that has come
under fire for liberal bias disregarded warnings that a scheduled talk
by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.) could constitute a violation
of a federal law prohibiting non-profits from engaging in political advocacy, insiders tell the Free Beacon.
Miami’s Temple Israel sparked a political crisis in the South Florida Jewish community last month when it invited Wasserman Schultz, who also chairs the Democratic National Committee, to a religious event. She was later disinvited as controversy mounted.
The synagogue made headlines last month when it refused to allow prominent Republican congregant Stanley Tate to rebut Wasserman Schultz’s remarks. The move prompted Tate to resign his membership in protest and sparked multiple accusations that the temple was in the tank for the Obama campaign in a tough election year, a concern that persists as Obama officials continue to swarm South Florida.
Longtime Temple Israel member Jack Schillinger told the Free Beacon that, during a board meeting in advance of Wasserman Schultz’s speech, he expressed reservations about giving the divisive political leader an unfiltered forum.
“We don’t have to be only one way or another,” Schillinger told synagogue President Ben Kuehne, a Miami defense attorney and Democratic Party donor currently working as an Obama campaign surrogate, according to reports.
Kuehne, however, initially disregarded these concerns and stuck by Wasserman Schultz.
“I would say there was no vote taken [on the matter], and the president said he’d take it under advisement,” Schillinger recalled.
The speech was finally postponed after multiple newspapers published articles about the controversy.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/tabernacle-tummel/
Miami’s Temple Israel sparked a political crisis in the South Florida Jewish community last month when it invited Wasserman Schultz, who also chairs the Democratic National Committee, to a religious event. She was later disinvited as controversy mounted.
The synagogue made headlines last month when it refused to allow prominent Republican congregant Stanley Tate to rebut Wasserman Schultz’s remarks. The move prompted Tate to resign his membership in protest and sparked multiple accusations that the temple was in the tank for the Obama campaign in a tough election year, a concern that persists as Obama officials continue to swarm South Florida.
Longtime Temple Israel member Jack Schillinger told the Free Beacon that, during a board meeting in advance of Wasserman Schultz’s speech, he expressed reservations about giving the divisive political leader an unfiltered forum.
“We don’t have to be only one way or another,” Schillinger told synagogue President Ben Kuehne, a Miami defense attorney and Democratic Party donor currently working as an Obama campaign surrogate, according to reports.
Kuehne, however, initially disregarded these concerns and stuck by Wasserman Schultz.
“I would say there was no vote taken [on the matter], and the president said he’d take it under advisement,” Schillinger recalled.
The speech was finally postponed after multiple newspapers published articles about the controversy.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/tabernacle-tummel/
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