Islam remark costs pastor (Jeb Bush political appointee)

[seafan]

Islam remark costs pastor


JOE RIMKUS JR. / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

POMPANO BEACH: The Revs. Alonzo Neal, left, and O'Neal Dozier stand at the planned site of a mosque.


A Pompano Beach clergyman's comments about Islam has cost him a post on Broward's Judicial Nominating Commission.


BY DARRAN SIMON
July 11, 2006

Following some controversial remarks on radio about Muslims, the Rev. O'Neal Dozier, a Gov. Jeb Bush appointee, resigned from a panel responsible for nominating judges in Broward County.
Dozier said Monday he was asked to step down from the nine-member Judicial Nominating Commission after he characterized Islam as a ''cult'' on a radio show.
Dozier, pastor of the World Wide Christian Center Church in Pompano Beach, also called Islam ''a dangerous religion'' Friday on the The Steve Kane Radio Show.

Dozier took to the airwaves to talk about why he and a group of Pompano Beach ministers didn't want a mosque built in the community.
His comments were first reported on an Internet blog written by Bob Norman, a columnist for New Times Broward-Palm Beach.
''Following the comments the reverend made, our general counsel's office reached out to the reverend and expressed the governor's concerns and subsequently accepted the reverend's resignation,'' Kristy Campbell, Bush's deputy press secretary, said Monday.

Bush appointed Dozier, 57, to the panel in 2001.

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After Dozier's comments last Friday, Bush quickly distanced himself. ''Gov. Bush in no way shares Rev. Dozier's views on Islam,'' Bush spokeswoman Alia Faraj said at the time.
Campbell said the governor will appoint a replacement to serve out Dozier's term, which expires July 1, 2007. He was the lone black member on the commission.

On Monday, Dozier said: ``I work for the Lord. I have always worked for the Lord.''
Some Muslim leaders said they were concerned the dozen black ministers' stance would strain the harmonious relations blacks and Muslims have built over the years.

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[LostinVA]

1. I thought Broward was Blue....

[seafan]

4. It is a Democratic stronghold, the largest in the state.

Jeb is trying his darnedest to peel away votes and progressive history here, and until now, this GOP operative has been active on Jeb's Judicial Nominating Commission, making sure that the judicial applicants pass the religious right's gauntlet.



From March 9, 2004, in The National Law Journal:

In January it was reported that members of the Broward County JNC regularly had asked questions about candidates' personal religious views, their ability to balance motherhood with judicial service, and their views on controversial court cases involving hot-button social issues.

The Rev. O'Neal Dozier of Pompano Beach acknowledged asking candidates whether they are "God-fearing," though he said he stopped when a Fort Lauderdale lawyer asked him to do so. Dozier also has made repeated derogatory comments about gays in news interviews and public speeches, and said he thought one candidate should have made it known during the interview that she is a lesbian.

snip

[LostinVA]

6. I was wondering... because I also know that area has large GLBT

community, too...

It's the only place in FL the SO and I would move to (well, or if we were rich and could buy a place on the water on Big Pine Key).

[Bill McBlueState]

2. they want the government to decide which religions get to build

There was a time when Christian leaders understood the implications of allowing the government to decide who got to worship and who didn't. I guess these guys have gotten comfortable with their effective "most favored religion" status.

[tanyev]

3. Maybe Katherine Harris could find a spot for him on her campaign team.

[seafan]

5. Rev Dozier is a good GOP operative, yes siree.

More from the Sun-Sentinel of Broward County:


Dozier, 57, is a key figure in Republican Charlie Crist's effort to reach black voters in the attorney general's race for governor.
Neither Bush nor Crist could be reached for comment.

snip

Dozier was unapologetic for his comments and said he regrets that he was not able to speak his mind as a political appointee.
"I don't see the crime I committed,'' he said. "We're fighting for freedom in Iraq. I guess there's an exception to that when you accept an appointment.''

snip

Dozier is a prominent black Republican who has recruited blacks to the GOP and advised President Bush. He was nominated to the judicial screening committee in 2001, and Gov. Bush reappointed him two years later. The governor also spoke at Dozier's church on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2003.
When President Bush campaigned at the Office Depot Center in 2004, Dozier gave the invocation.

The president invited him to the White House in February 2005 as part of a delegation of 24 black preachers and business owners to discuss Social Security. On a return trip, he asked the president to expand the administration's faith-based initiatives to combat HIV and AIDS on the African continent.

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On edit: Add Reverend Dozier's name to the list of Jeb's failed political appointees.