Anti-Muslim group opposes professor's appointment to Jacksonville commission

An anti-Muslim organization is lobbying Jacksonville City Council members to vote against confirming a University of North Florida professor to the city's Human Rights Commission.

Parvez Ahmed, who is Muslim, was appointed to the voluntary advisory board by Mayor John Peyton and recommended for confirmation by the council Rules Committee. A vote on his confirmation is scheduled to occur at Tuesday's council meeting.

The group ACT! for America caught wind of his appointment last week and e-mailed a 20-page report Friday accusing Ahmed of having ties to extremist groups through his service on the board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"When it comes to a human rights commissioner, Jacksonville can do better than this nomination," said Randy McDaniels, leader of ACT's Jacksonville chapter.

The mayor's office and some City Council members dispute the organizations' claims and said there is no proof Ahmed has radical ties. Deputy General Counsel Cindy Laquidara will attend Tuesday's council meeting to answer questions about Ahmed's background.

Councilman John Crescimbeni, who initially suggested Ahmed to the mayor's office for a nomination, said the group and its last-minute claims against the professor have no credibility.

"In fact, I checked out some of those allegations made in the original e-mail that came out last Friday," Crescimbeni said. "It looked like a cut and paste job. It's pure hate on their part."

Crescimbeni said Ahmed, who is a Fulbright Scholar with decades of public service under his belt, would be an asset to the Human Rights Commission.

"I can't think of a better person to serve on that commission than him," he said. "He is the guy that's all about peace, and he's all about getting along."

Council President Richard Clark said Ahmed's appointment is currently included on the consent agenda for Tuesday's meeting, meaning it would be approved quickly with several other items. However, he said, any council member can request that it be taken off the consent agenda and discussed separately.

"I have no intention of pulling it," Clark said. "If people felt that strongly about it, they should have spoken up long before the confirmation process at Rules."

McDaniels said ACT learned of Ahmed's nomination after media reports surfaced about the Rules Committee vote and Councilman Clay Yarborough's questioning of the professor's opinion on separation of church and state and gay marriage.

Yarborough voted to recommend the professor after receiving responses he considered satisfactory, but he now says the ACT report has given him pause. He said he wants to know more about its claims before deciding whether he will vote for Ahmed's confirmation.

"If need be, I will adamantly oppose confirmation of his appointment on the floor tomorrow if there are established links here that are of concern," Yarborough said Monday.

The ACT report ties Council on American-Islamic Relations to extremists because it was listed as one of 300 unindicted co-conspirators in a Department of Justice terrorism financing trial. That matter ended in mistrial, and CAIR was never accused of wrongdoing.

McDaniels' group offered no evidence that Ahmed had directly attempted to support terrorist groups.

The mayor's office is standing by its decision to nominate Ahmed to the Human Rights Commission, saying it conducted the same criminal background and reference checks as all other nominees to a board or commission.

Ahmed said the scrutiny he has experienced in recent days has not deterred him from wanting to serve on the commission, but he worries about the message it is sending.

"I am afraid other qualified individuals may be discouraged to pursue public service," he said. "Hate groups like ACT do not belong in our Democratic process."

Councilman Art Shad, who is chairman of the Rules Committee, expressed the same concern and said the next two weeks will be important for the City Council as Ahmed and two others come up for confirmation to the Human Rights Commission.

"We want to be very careful in how we act because we need to set the example of being level-headed, although we want to be thorough in our view," Shad said.

He said any council member has a right to ask questions of nominees, but he hopes there is an air of respect to the process and to those who want to volunteer their time.

tia.mitchell@jacksonville.com

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