The Public Eye Magazine

The Public Eye, Summer 2009

In February, 2009, members of the Islamic Center of Irvine learned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had hired Craig Monteilh, a 46-year-old fitness instructor and convicted con man, to infiltrate their mosque and keep it under surveillance. Members had wondered about Monteilh for a while. Back in 2007, the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), alarmed by his talk of jihad and plans for a terrorist attack, reported him to Irvine police and secured a three-year restraining order against him.

The men who created the New Right chose the Republican Party as the party to attach themselves to, even if they didn’t agree with all of the GOP’s ideas, melding conservatives with the Christian Right.

Abby Scher details how the Right’s fight over the Employee Free Choice Act shows the Right’s strength even after an electoral defeat.