Va. Muslim Activist Denies Urging Violence

"The new commission on immigration will be tackling potentially contentious issues surrounding immigration," said Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall. "The governor was pleased that Dr. Omeish agreed that the controversy surrounding the doctor's political statements could seriously divert and distract from the important work of the commission."

Gilbert said yesterday that the governor's vetting of candidates for appointments should be improved.

"I don't know how a problem of this magnitude could have slipped through the Governor's screening process," Gilbert said in a statement distributed by the office of House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford). "Even a cursory internet search about the appointee in question would have also easily identified him as a leader of a potentially radical northern Virginia mosque."

Secretary of the Commonwealth Katherine K. Hanley, who is in charge of recommending appointments to Kaine, said her office will start conducting searches of LexisNexis and YouTube and other similar video Web sites as part of the vetting process in the future.

The state's vetting process includes criminal background, credit and professional license checks and a Google search, which sometimes produces videos -- but did not in this case.

"We really do research," Hanley said.

Others questioned Omeish's critics, insisting that the whole episode is more evidence of anti-Muslim intolerance and a desire to keep Muslims out of the public discourse.

"It trashes the reputation of a well-respected Muslim leader based on hype and hysteria," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. "It unfolded just the way I thought it would. Bloggers use any opportunity they can to marginalize American Muslims and their leaders. It's political theater."