Campaigns Quick to Shake Loose Cannons
March 25, 2008; Page A4
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.
![[Mehmet Celebi]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/HC-GL698_Celebi_20080324142902.gif)
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.
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.
Write to Christopher Cooper at christopher.cooper@wsj.com1
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