Inside the lucrative “anti-jihad” industry
A new report alleges that a leading mosque opponent is gaming the non-profit tax system

One of the under-examined aspects of the recent bloom in anti-Muslim sentiment is the role of professional “anti-jihad” activists. These are people like the blogger Pamela Geller, the author Robert Spencer, the investigator Steven Emerson, and the think tank denizen Frank Gaffney. They have made careers out of writing reports on sharia law, testifying against the construction of mosques around the country, and appearing on cable to talk up the threat from Muslims.

The Tennessean newspaper, which has been covering fierce opposition to construction of a mosque in the Nashville suburb of Murfreesboro, published an investigation of the “anti-jihad” industry on Sunday. Among its most notable findings: Emerson, the executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, appears to be operating a pair of organizations under a highly unusual — and, experts told the newspaper, dubious — tax setup.

The thumbnail version: Emerson collected over $3 million in 2008 for his tax-exempt non-profit, the Investigative Project on Terrorism. The Investigative Project then paid all of that money to another entity controlled by Emerson, the for-profit SAE Productions (the two entities also share a Washington, D.C., address). The result: it’s impossible to see how the money is being used by Emerson, including how much he is paying himself and others. A spokesman for the groups maintains that this setup was created for security reasons so names of employees are not publicly released.

Continues.