CAMPAIGNS QUICK TO SHAKE LOOSE CANNONS
By Christopher Cooper
Wall Street Journal
March 25 2008
Presidential candidates have gotten touchy about their prominent
friends. Sen. Hillary Clinton dropped former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro
from her campaign, Sen. Barack Obama backed away from Rev. Jeremiah
Wright and academic Samantha Power, and Sen. John McCain rebuked Texas
televangelist James Hagee — all because of divisive statements the
friends made.
The shifts illustrate a reality in this closely fought contest: When
a misstep, or the appearance of one, sparks negative press, campaigns
are quick to throw a high-profile supporter overboard rather than
mount damage control.
One unusual breakup is the Clinton campaign’s split with Chicago
businessman Mehmet Celebi, who was relieved of duty as a fund-raiser.
Mr. Celebi was dismissed on the basis of assertions on the Internet,
which he denies, that he produced and bankrolled a film that is
anti-Semitic and anti-American.
Earlier this year, a group of bloggers accused Mr. Celebi of
anti-Semitism and of denying that the Holocaust occurred.
When those allegations began cropping up in the mainstream press,
the Clinton campaign acted swiftly. "[W]e made the decision that he
would no longer be fund-raising for us," said Clinton communications
director Howard Wolfson in a recent email response to an inquiry.
The campaign didn’t determine whether the charges were true. Mr.
Celebi, the former longtime president of the Chicago chapter of the
Turkish-American Cultural Association, said he is the victim of a
smear campaign that he thinks may have been started by a group of
disgruntled Armenians. "It’s racism, that’s what it is," said Mr.
Celebi in a telephone interview from Istanbul, Turkey, where he was
on business.
At the heart of Mr. Celebi’s trouble is an obscure 2006 film titled
"Valley of the Wolves." The movie, produced by a Turkish company called
Pana Film, shares the name of a campy television action series popular
in Turkey. Mr. Celebi has producer credit on several of the television
series’ segments, two of which featured actress Sharon Stone.
But the movie, starring Gary Busey and Billy Zane, bears little
relation to the television series. It depicts U.S. soldiers in Iraq
torturing and killing Iraqi civilians until the soldiers are foiled
by a small band of Turkish commandos. The movie was popular in Turkey
but never released in the U.S.
Groups, including the Catholic League, condemned the film as
anti-American propaganda and criticized Messrs. Busey and Zane for
taking part. Critics also say the film is anti-Semitic, as evidenced by
the character portrayed by Mr. Busey — a Jewish doctor who harvests
organs from Arab captives in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison for resale in
Tel Aviv and the U.S.
~U The Trend: Presidential campaigns are quick to throw a high-profile
supporter overboard rather than mount damage control when a misstep,
or the appearance of one, sparks negative press.
~U The Move: The Clinton campaign split with a Chicago fund-raiser on
the basis of assertions by bloggers that he produced and bankrolled
a film that is anti-Semitic and anti-American.
~U The Catch: The campaign made the move without fully investigating
the claims.Mr. Zane’s agent, Matt Luber, had no comment. Vicki
Roberts, a lawyer for Mr. Busey, said, "We have something in this
country called the First Amendment, which protects every American’s
freedom of expression."
The bloggers accused Mr. Celebi of producing and bankrolling the film
and then criticized Sen. Clinton for the company she keeps. Last month,
the movie, along with Mr. Celebi and Sen. Clinton, got brief mention
in the New York Post’s Page 6 gossip section. Shortly afterward,
the campaign quietly cut contact with Mr. Celebi.
"I’m not suggesting he is anti-Semitic," Mr. Wolfson said. "Our
concern was over his connection to the film."
While Mr. Celebi didn’t finance the film, a movie-production company
he co-owns, BMH Worldwide LLC, supplied the American actors. And Mr.
Celebi appeared briefly in the film as an extra — recruited by an
assistant director for an unscripted scene when he showed up on the
set with Mr. Zane.
"My role in the whole movie was limited to being a waiter, serving
them dessert and telling them that ‘These gentlemen are here to see
you,’ " Mr. Celebi said. He said he didn’t know what the movie was
about. "Since my scene was unscripted and I didn’t have any other
lines, I was not provided a script."
Pana Film put out a release earlier this month to confirm that this
was the extent of Mr. Celebi’s involvement.
Mr. Celebi said he viewed the film as carrying an antiwar message,
though he conceded it "could be perceived as anti-American." He said
he didn’t fully agree with the movie’s message and never saw the film
screened until its premiere in Istanbul.
"I’m just sick about it," said Mr. Celebi, adding that his "being
labeled as an anti-Semite" was the most stinging insult of all. "I’ve
worked against these things all my life. It’s racism; it got started
because of my ethnic background."
It is possible that Mr. Celebi, a prominent Turkish-American, was
singled out in part because of a bill that was opposed by the Bush
administration and failed to pass Congress last year.
The measure would have condemned Turkey for its role in the mass
killings of Armenians during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire
and brought the long-simmering issue to the fore among Turks, Kurds
and Armenians.
Joel J. Sprayregen, a Chicago corporate lawyer and past national
vice chairman of the Anti-Defamation League, backs Mr. Celebi’s
assertions. Mr. Sprayregen says he has known Mr. Celebi for about seven
years. "It would be hard for me to spend time with an anti-Semite,"
Mr. Sprayregen says. "This is a journalistic lynching."
Mr. Sprayregen adds that he is a Republican and isn’t supporting
Sen. Clinton.
The Clinton campaign has no plans to return the money Mr. Celebi
raised or the personal donation he gave of $4,300, Mr. Wolfson said.
He declined to comment further.
By contrast, the campaign refunded more than $800,000 after last
fall’s revelations that it received substantial sums from associates
of fund-raiser and convicted felon Norman Hsu. And Sen. Obama has
continued to give to charity the $250,000 or so in donations linked
to former political patron Antoin Rezko, a Chicago developer currently
on trial for influence peddling.