Kudos to the San Antonio Express News that actually followed up on Bonilla’s claims. So far, all other media sources reported that the “dangerous” legislation was “Secret Evidence Repeal Act of 1999″ leaving it to the reader to realize that an Act of 1999 would put it before 9/11. The Express News takes the extra (and unfortunately necessary) step of spelling it out for the readers.

MySA.com: Metro | State

The “dangerous judgment” Bonilla attributed to Rodriguez was primarily his support for legislation that would have eliminated the use of secret evidence to deport or deny benefits to any undocumented immigrant. Bonilla’s attack put Rodriguez’s sponsorship of the legislation in a post-9-11 context, though it took place two years earlier.

They also list other supporters of the bill which potentially included our fearless leader, President George Bush. None of the other stories carried this information.

MySA.com: Metro | State

In an Oct. 11, 2000, presidential debate with Gore, then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush seemed to support the legislation when he said, according to a New York Times transcript: There are “other forms of racial profiling that goes on in America. Arab Americans are racially profiled on what’s called secret evidence. People are stopped. And we got to do something about that.”

And then there is the “dirty” campaign contribution from a terrorist supporter. Again, only the Express News reports all the other contributions Alamoudi made to other politicians and it hasn’t seemed to lessen their stature as anti-terrorists.

MySA.com: Metro | State

During a news conference Monday, retired FBI agent Al Ortiz said Rodriguez had sponsored a Capitol Hill “summit” where Alamoudi was one of the speakers. Alamoudi also contributed to Rodriguez’s campaign fund, Ortiz said.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks federal campaign contributions, Alamoudi gave Rodriguez $250 in 1998, before he came under criminal investigation. Between 1996 and 1998, he also contributed to then-Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Indiana, who went on to become co-chairman of the 9-11 Commission, and eight other congressmen, including former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and former Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., who became Bush’s energy secretary.

I think the best part of the piece was the follow-up on Bonilla’s insinuation of insidious influence by Asim Ghafoor.

MySA.com: Metro | State

Bonilla said Rodriguez’s acceptance of support from “known terrorists” and his support for the legislation “may be based on” the influence of a former aide named Asim Ghafoor, who later served as spokesman to two Islamic charities suspected of having ties to terrorist groups.

Ghafoor could not be reached for comment Monday. An employee at his office, the AG Consulting Group, said, “Wow, that’s crazy,” when told Ghafoor had become the subject of a political attack.

The employee, Jad Sarsourr, added, “I respect the candidate’s ambition to go at Asim like that. That’s brilliant, I think. They just need to say ‘terrorism’ — especially in a red state like Texas, that’s pretty smart.”

Then he said, “Has this guy ever heard of defamation?”

I have to give credit that the other reports generally got that statement that

Dallas Cars & Trucks | DallasNews.com | Dallas Morning News | Texas/Southwest

Bonilla said he had no plans to forward the information to the Department of Homeland Security.

What, you mean this is just politics?

Technorati Tags: Henry Bonilla, Bonilla, San Antonio Express News, Secret Evidence Repeal Act of 1999, Ciro Rodriguez, Abdurahman Alamoudi, Al Ortiz, Asim Ghafoor, Global Relief Foundation, Texas CD 23, Texas District 23