Mayor Bloomberg differs with a member of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the same man he appointed as a member of New York City’s Human Relations Council in 2002. The New York Post reports:
People must be able to alert the police if they see suspicious behavior that could be terror-related, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday, endorsing legislation moving through Congress that would protect whistleblowers from lawsuits.
“I think people should be free to go to law enforcement if they think there’s something wrong,” Bloomberg said.
His comments come in the wake of a lawsuit – brought by an attorney the mayor appointed to the city’s Human Rights Commission – against passengers who reported six imams acting suspiciously on a flight last fall.
“You certainly should not feel that you cannot go and report something,” Bloomberg said.
The legislation, being sponsored by Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.), has passed the House and is awaiting action in the Senate. [See note below]
Omar Mohammedi, whom Bloomberg appointed to the HRC in 2002, is representing six imams who were thrown off a USAirways flight in Minneapolis on Nov. 30.
The Post has more here on this.
Editor’s note: The bill has not “passed” in the House. It was voted by 199 Republicans and 105 Democrats into the language of the Democrat sponsored 7.3 billion dollar transportation security bill and sent to the House Judiciary Committee for further action.