SUNUNU'S DIRTY MONEY PROBLEMS

For Immediate Release
May 22, 2008

Not the first time Sununu has to return money from donor with Hamas ties - will he reject tainted Myanmar lobbyist money?

(Manchester, NH) - As reported in today's Union Leader, John E. Sununu is returning $1,000 in money he received from Hisham Altalib, the leader of "a Muslim group whose headquarters was raided in 2003 by federal agents investigating possible terrorist financing." [Union Leader, 5/22/08]

But today is not the first time Sununu has accepted money from terrorist financiers and later been forced to return the money. In his 2002 campaign for Senate, Sununu was forced to return $750 from Abduraham Alamoudi, a leader of a Muslim group who declared himself a "supporter of Hamas" at a D.C. rally and was later convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison for financing international terrorist organizations and his involvement in an assassination plot. [Union Leader, 10/22/01; U.S. Dept. of Justice, 10/15/04]

"John Sununu is a typical politician, he has a history of accepting dirty money, and he now has been forced to return donations from suspected terrorist financiers twice," said Alex Reese, press secretary for the NHDP's Coordinated Campaign. "Why does he wait for public outcry before he returns these suspicious contributions? And when will he return tainted money from DCI Group, a D.C. organization that lobbied on behalf of the Myanmar military junta? John Sununu and his dirty money are just part of the problem."

On May 14, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley publicly called on Sununu to return $2,250 in contributions from disgraced lobbying firm DCI Group. In recent weeks, John McCain has fired top DCI employees from his campaign because of DCI's past work lobbying on behalf of Myanmar's oppressive military junta. [Newsweek, 5/19/08] But Sununu's ties to DCI Group go back much further than McCain's: according to sworn testimony, DCI played an advisory role in the 2002 New Hampshire phone jamming scandal. Sununu has yet to respond to requests that he return the DCI donations.

John Sununu: A History of Dirty Money

• 2002 Senate Race: Sununu was forced to return $750 from Abduraham Alamoudi, who publicly declared himself a "Hamas supporter" at Washington D.C. rally and was later convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison for financing international terrorist groups and participating in an assassination plot.
• 2008 Senate Race: Sununu was forced to return $1,000 from Hisham Altalib, a suspected Hamas financier.
• 2008 Senate Race: Sununu has yet to return $2,250 from disgraced lobbying firm DCI Group, which lobbied on behalf of the Myanmar military junta and advised on the illegal Republican phone jamming scheme in Sununu's 2002 Senate race. John McCain has publicly repudiated the group and fired its employees from his campaign.