
RACINE - It would be "incredibly unfortunate," if a mosque was built in New York City blocks away from Ground Zero, the U.S. senate candidate Ron Johnson said Friday when asked at a Journal Times Editorial Board meeting.
The issue of a $100 million Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero has come up as a political issue. The project is headed by Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, a Muslim cleric who has worked to improve relations between Islam and the West, according to the Associated Press.
"Those folks are trying to poke a stick in our eye," Johnson said. "I just hope the zoning officials and the city, the state revisit that, rezone that piece of property."
The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate continued: "If they don't do it I hope the construction workers in New York show their outrage and say we are not going to do that."
His opinion is in stark contrast to Sen. Russ Feingold's recent comments in support of the mosque.
"I do not decide for Muslims where they want to buy property and have a religious facility any more than I do for Christians or anybody else," Feingold told the editorial board Tuesday. "That clearly is not my role."