Over the course of the last few weeks, USA Today has published two separate stories on the ever evolving Gulenist - related shenanigans. However, the two articles did not so much highlight the Gulenists’ behavior as it did that of the United States’ politicians who have taken great advantage of the Gulenist’s “philanthropic” gift-giving activities, and with special regard to free trips to Turkey and political campaign contributions.
The USA Today story published on October 29, 2015, listed at least 200 Congressional and staff trips to Turkey at a cost of $800,000 – and courtesy of Gulen-related organizations.
The second article published by USA Today on November 19, 2015, gave details of US politicians accepting campaign contributions from Gulenists, including donations from Gulenists who were apparently being used as “shill” donors and did not have a clue about the people that they contributed money to.
According to USA Today,
“New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayote has since refunded the $43,100 that she received from over 19 Turkish Americans donating to Ayotte that day, who all lived outside New Hampshire, seemed to know little about the first-term senator, who is a woman.
"He's a good guy. He's doing good so far. ... I know him," said Iman Cesari, a 30-year-old Nassau County employee on New York's Long Island, who gave Ayotte $1,200.
"I just liked what he said at that time and wanted to make a donation," said Hayati Camlica, who owns a Long Island auto repair shop and donated $2,400 to Ayotte on the same day.”
Apparently Cesari and Camlica flunked Gulenist 101, forgetting the part that whenever telling lies -- get the story straight first – simple things like being able to identify a woman from a man…
Also according to the USA Today story, the Gulenists are not loyal to their respective state or federal legislators, and instead contribute nationally to politicians whose acquaintance and political history have no relevance to their particular geographical locations or local politicians.
In the November 19, 2015 article, USA Today reported,
“Gülen-linked money has flowed into campaigns all over the country, both Republicans and Democrats, and much of it raises red flags. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, received nine $2,500 donations from out-of-state Turkish-Americans on Oct. 7, 2013. One of the donations is attributed to a teacher at a Gülen-linked charter school in Toledo, Ohio, who had never before made a federal campaign donation. State public records suggest the teacher, Akif Camizci, was earning $37,000 a year. Camizci could not be reached at the school.
Also donating to Cuellar that day was Bilal Eksili, vice president of the Turkish American Federation of Midwest in Mount Prospect, Ill. Eksili donated a total of $5,000 to federal campaigns that year, but the foundation reported to the IRS that his full-time salary was $31,592. Overall, FEC records show Eksili has donated $38,000 to political campaigns since 2010, though public records indicate he did not own a home. Eksili did not respond to attempts to reach him.”
Interesting.
Why would an Ohio Gulenist send a significant amount of his salary to Texas politicians, especially since the Gulenists’ long-standing posture is that the 150 United States’ Gulenist-managed schools are not interrelated in any manner?
As an aside, the rumor in Turkey is that Gulen has either applied for political asylum in Canada and is either currently living there, or soon to be on his way. If that’s the case, the Gulenists might want to hold up on their United States’ campaign contributions and start saving up for Gulen’s Canadian trip. But should Gulen’s Canadian plans fall through, it’s pretty certain that Erdogan’s government is still holding a seat for Gulen on a plane trip back to Istanbul.
Below are the links to the two USA Today stories:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/10/29/turkish-faith-movement-secretly-funded-200-trips-lawmakers-and-staff/74535104/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/11/20/lawmakers-got-suspect-turkish-campaign-cash/75982732/