The Election in Irvine- One Candidate Who Hid From The Voters

On October 10, 2008, I posted an essay entitled; "Guess who's running for City Council in Irvine?" It concerned Todd Gallinger, a Southern California attorney for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), who was running for Irvine City Council. In that essay, I described a lawsuit brought recently by Gallinger against Yale University Press on behalf of KinderUSA, a supposed charity group directed toward Palestinian children. Yale University Press had published a book entitled: "Hamas:Politics, Charity and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad", by Matthew Levitt, in which KinderUSA was described as a Hamas front group. Gallinger's suit was dropped when Yale filed a SLAPP countersuit against KinderUSA. (SLAAP means strategic lawsuit against public participation, in effect a suit designed to pressure someone who may not have the resources or will to fight in court.)

This essay was posted on Orange County-based blog, Red County, a blog that Gallinger reads and occasionally comments on-usually in defense of the Muslim Student Union at UC-Irvine. What resulted was a thread of exchanges between Gallinger, myself and a couple of other commentators. To be more accurate, Gallinger only "replied" three times to numerous questions from me. In his replies, he stated that if I had any further questions, I should send them to his official site and he would "try to get to them" though he was very busy with his campaign. I replied on two occasions that since he was a candidate for office, I would continue to ask him questions in a public forum to which he should reply publicly.


To summarize, I asked Gallinger throughout the course of the thread the below questions:

1 Is there a connection between CAIR and Hamas as alleged in the Levitt book?

2 Did he file a SLAPP-type lawsuit against Yale University Press designed to pressure them to pay a settlement and suppress a book?

3 Could he comment on an article in the Irvine Tattler to the effect that he and his political allies running for spots on the Irvine City Council had financed a newspaper called the Irvine Community News and Views-which was actually printed in Northern California and was basically a campaign newspletter sent to Irvine residents.

4 How could he put up campaign signs along the roads of Irvine with the phrase, "Homegrown leadership" when he had just moved to Irvine this past April in order to run for City Council?

5 Did he report an alleged telephone death threat he received to the police?


To this date, Gallinger has only replied to the last question (He did, in fact, file a police report.)


Here are his three replies:


Gallinger:


"I've talked about my work with CAIR on here before, you can draw your own conclusions based upon that. I'm proud of the work I've done with them, I know it has been in defense of civil rights and also national security.

I've never represented CAIR-National nor have I ever heard the story about there founding here. I honestly could't understand the claims, but its clear they're more attempts at guilt by association, which I reject.

My work with KinderUSA is described in the article.

If you have meaningful questions, just email me, I'll try to get to them, but am pretty busy right now."

October 12, 2008 2:36 PM


Gallinger:

"To Fouse - Yes, a police report was filed the day the threat came in. This of course was reported in both the OC Register & LA Times articles. You guys honestly amaze me with your intellectual laziness.

To whoever wanted a tape recording, I don't make it a habit of recording all incoming calls. Do you?

I don't see a need to. Also, if I did record every call, it would be in violation of CA law which requires permission before taping.

What do you all think of the McCain volunteer w/ the B on her cheek? Does this now mean every report by a white person is subject to suspicion?

Though I do occasionally read this blog, if you want to find something out, try using the google or emailing me. But it seems like you wouldn't want any knowledge which challenges your preconceived notions."

October 24, 2008 7:31 PM


Gallinger:

"Fouse -

You still didn't answer my question, will this make you less likely to believe crimes reported by white people, as you feel with the false report by the Muslim girl? Does this report discredit the McCain campaign & the Republican party, the same way you believe CAIR was discredited?

Also, you can email me and then post my response, rather than simply rely on me to read everything that gets written on here. I have dead time tonight, the first in a long time and likely the last for at least the next 10 days. Additionally, your question could have been answered by reading below the headline of any of the articles which were published on the threat, which I assume is how you originally heard of it."

October 24, 2008 10:10 PM

* Note: I did, indeed, answer Gallinger's question on the Pittsburgh hoax by posting my own essay on the incident.


During the past week of the election, I posted a daily comment to Red County blog asking, "Where is Todd Gallinger?" I kept asking Gallinger to reply to my questions before the election. He never did.

Yesterday, Gallinger, part of a 4 member team that was trying to be elected to the City Council/Mayor's Office, was the only one who failed. (Three spots were open plus the mayor's office.)

I am certainly not trying to take full credit for Gallinger's failed campaign. Of more concern to Gallinger is information being published by the Irvine Tattler website pertaining to him and his fellow candidates. Yet, his arrogance in dealing with my questions on the widely-read Red County blog could not have helped his cause.

If you are interested in reading the entire thread, go to;

http://www.redcounty.com/rccampuswatch/2008/10/criticism-of-todd-gallingers-a/