State Attorney General and gubernatorial hopeful Andrew Cuomo said Thursday he has no plans to investigate the Islamic community center and mosque.
According to a recent poll, seven out of 10 New York State voters say they want him to look into the project’s financing.
Cuomo said he could not investigate the fundraising for the project because so little money has been raised so far.
He said his office would also need cause to probe the group.
“I hope nobody is suggesting this is a religion that some people don’t like and therefore we should start a government investigation. That would be a terrible and dangerous precedent,” said the Democratic candidate.
Cuomo did note that if anyone has evidence that the project has terrorist ties, that might be cause for an investigation.
Meanwhile, a coalition representing several September 11th family groups have sent an open letter to oppose any protests on this year’s anniversary.
The panel, which includes the founders of My Good Deed.org and members of the Cantor Fitzgerald Fund, are appealing to those on both sides of the Park51 mosque project issue to reconsider their planned rallies for the anniversary of the terror attacks.
They are asking Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer not to go through their rally opposing the project.
The coalition says the day should be marked with prayer and reflection and observed as a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
The letter was also sent to the mosque’s developer Sharif El-Gamal and Iman Feisal Abdul Rauf asking them to discourage their followers from holding a counter rally on the same day.
The authors say that the letters should not be taken a sign of support or opposition to the mosque project adding, “To divert this focus nine years later into a day of street protest and heated political debate is simply wrong.”
Organizers of the protest against the mosque said they will tone their rally down and hold more of a memorial service.
The heads of the Park51 project have yet to respond to the letter.
(Source: NY1)
3 Responses
How appropriate that on YWN’s front page, this article appears adjacent to the one about skunks in New York!
Of course not.
Likely an investigation will find which funds were directed to certain people in the government, so they aren’t anxious to expose that.