More specifically, are Sheinkopf and Mercurio working for Aish Hatorah fronts?

Last week, I asked why the right wing extremists behind the National Republican Trust PAC hired Mercurio instead of one of their own to place more than $5.3 million of sleazy anti-Obama ads on national network television.

The light went on when I learned Hank Sheinkopf had been hired in late September to represent the Clarion Fund in the media. The fund produced the anti-Muslim film, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War on the West".

In mid-September, 28 million copies of Obsession on dvd were distributed with the Sunday paper to readers in swing states. Not only were many people offended by the film's contents, the timing of the film's distribution was seen as a political ploy to garner support for John McCain.

I also found out that the NRT PAC treasurer, Peter M. Leitner, is involved with the distribution of Obsession. He and the founder of the Watch Obsession Citizens Public Education Campaign gave a seminar to 1,000 seniors in Boca this April. For a $100 a pop, Leitner taught the oldsters how to identify a terrorist.

I'm thinking maybe Hank Sheinkopf, an Orthodox Jew, got Mercurio the NRT PAC gig. Or maybe Sheinkopf and Mercurio are partners in Philipse Brook Group, Inc., the company registered to Mercurio's upstate address.

The Philipse Brook Group is actually handling the NRT PAC's media buys, according to FEC records. It was only registered in NY on 8/19/08 which indicates it was set up specifically to handle the NRT PAC business.

Sheinkopf and Mercurio, of course, can work for any radical right wing group they want to. My concern, as I said last week, is that these groups comply with federal election law.