MUSLIM LEADER HITS REMARKS BY LAWMAKER REPUBLICAN'S COMMENTS DISPLAY OF `ISLAMOPHOBIA'.

Byline: GIDEON RUBIN Special to the Daily News

PALMDALE -- A Virginia Republican congressman's controversial comments that triggered harsh criticism from national leaders across the political spectrum has drawn condemnation from a local Islamic leader.

The remarks reflect ``a wave of Islamophobia,'' said Abdul-Wahab Omeira, vice president of the Islamic Institute of the Antelope Valley who also sits on an Antelope Valley hate crime task force advisory board.

``I feel sorry for people like that who want to divide our country,'' Omeira said. ``Unfortunately, I see a wave of Islamophobia carried on by a minority who believe they have a monopoly on righteousness.''

In a letter sent to constituents earlier this month that surfaced early last week, Virgil Goode, a conservative sixth-term congressman, said that more stringent immigration laws are needed to prevent ``many more Muslims elected to office.''

Election aftermath

The remark came in the aftermath of Keith Ellison's election last month to Congress. Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, is the first Muslim elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

``I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped,'' Goode said in the letter.

Goode has publicly stood by the comments that have already been criticized by some in his own party, including U.S. Sen. John Warner, also a Virginia Republican.

Lancaster Mayor Henry Hearns, who also serves as a pastor at Littlerock's First Missionary Baptist Church, said he was ``not comfortable'' with the spirit of Goode's remarks, but came short of condemning them.

``I am not comfortable with that, I am for what America stands for,'' Hearns said. ``Anybody who is a citizen of America has the same rights as any other citizen.''

No comment

U.S. Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, a Republican whose 25th Congressional District includes the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys, did not respond to a request for comment on Goode's remark made through his staff.

Lew Stultz, a McKeon aide, said McKeon was out of town, and that congressional staffers were not authorized to comment on Goode's remarks.

Associated Press reported that Goode's letter was made public by a Virginia environmentalist leader who inadvertently received it in response to a letter he'd written to Goode expressing concerns about environmental policy.

Goode's statements drew public condemnation from a New Jersey lawmaker who said he was ``startled'' by the remarks, and a national Islamic group that wants Goode to apologize.

Bill Pascrell, a congressional Democrat, said he was ``greatly disappointed and in fact startled'' by Goode's letter.

``I take your remarks as personally offensive to the large community of Muslim-Americans I represent in the 8th District of New Jersey,'' Pascrell wrote.

Intolerant message?

Corey Saylor, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' national legislative director, said ``... Goode's Islamophobic remarks send a message of intolerance that is unworthy of anyone elected to public office,'' and that ``there can be no reasonable defense for such bigotry.''

Omeira said Goode's remarks reflect intolerance.

``There are people who don't look at America as a pluralistic society,'' he said. ``Our differences are what make us strong.

``The people who voted for Keith Ellison are not just Muslims. They're Christians, Muslims and Jews. I'm sure there weren't enough Muslims to get him elected.''

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