Muslim Groups Say Jeb Bush PAC Hired 'Islamophobe'

A senior consultant to Jeb Bush's Right to Rise PAC is coming under fire from several Muslim organizations for his alleged "Islamophobic views."

In a letter dated Monday asking that Jordan Sekulow be axed from Bush's political action committee, the groups – including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), American Muslims for Palestine, and Islamic Circle of North America – argued his "support for unconstitutional laws and policies that infringe on the First Amendment-protected rights and liberties of American Muslims makes him unfit to advise the Right to Rise PAC."

The Daily Caller posted the letter Tuesday.

The groups charge that, under Sekulow's leadership, the American Center for Law & Justice backed Oklahoma's 2012 "Save Our State" amendment banning the use of Sharia law in Oklahoma courts – legislation later struck down by a federal judge – and published an "anti-Muslim" pamphlet entitled "Shari'a Law: Radical Islam's Threat to the U.S. Constitution."

"While you have not personally endorsed Sekulow's anti-Muslim positions, you and the Right to Rise PAC have clearly endorsed someone who holds strong Islamophobic views," the organizations say to the likely GOP presidential candidate.

"We hope that hiring Sekulow was an oversight and not a validation of his views. Removing Sekulow would resolve this troubling question."

Sekulow's hiring as a senior consultant this month appeared to be a move to attract the GOP's religious conservative base; he also served as an adviser to the George W. Bush and Mitt Romney campaigns.

The Muslim groups want Bush to meet with national leaders of their community to "discuss the issues and concerns… as your brother did before his first presidential bid."

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