One of the most promising Republican candidates is Josh Mandel, Iraq War veteran (and Marine) who is running for Treasurer of Ohio.

His opponent, incumbent Kevin Boyce, has not only made a mess out the current finances of Ohio taxpayers but has all but turned over the day to day running of the Treasury to Deputy Treasurer Amer Ahmad who, in the words of journalist Joel Mowbray, has a "habit of hanging around people who are well-known for ties to Islamic radicals and terrorists". Though Boyce's name may be the one on the ballot, Ahmad has been running the department and will continue to do so if Boyce wins.

And that could be trouble.

Joel Mowbray, writing at Townhall:

According to an FBI affidavit, Amana's co-founder Mirza was paymaster for an Islamic charity that funneled millions to Hamas. Mirza signed at least three checks totaling over $300,000 from the account of Safa Trust, which were given to the Holy Land Foundation. HLF was eventually shut down for supporting Hamas, and its founders were sentenced last year to lengthy prison terms for terrorism-related convictions.

Amana has shown itself to be radical in other ways. Its website, for example, approvingly cites the expertise of extremist cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who is banned from the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Qaradawi has issued fatwas legitimizing terrorism against Israeli civilians, as well as approving the murder of Americans in Iraq.

Additionally, Amana has utilized a Qaradawi protégé, Salah Soltan, as a Sharia advisor for its funds, according to a 2006 SEC filing.

Echoing his mentor, Soltan has engaged in virulent anti-Semitism and promoted bloodshed. During a December 2008 interview on the Egyptian TV network al-Nas, Soltan called for the murder of Jews, and predicted that the "U.S. will suffer more deaths than all those killed in this third Gaza holocaust."

Ahmad is likely well aware of Soltan. After all, the fiery cleric is the former resident scholar at the mosque Ahmad attends, the Noor Islamic Center. Although Soltan ended his regular role at the mosque before Ahmad arrived in mid-2008, filed by attorneys in an unrelated civil case last year showed that Soltan preached at Noor as recently as December 2008.

Follow the thread of terrorist financiers and sympathizers that Mowbray fleshes out here.