South Florida charity rescinds honor to GOP's Lt. Col. Allen West

From David A. Patten of Newsmax.com on July 22:

A South Florida charity has withdrawn a high-profile fund-raising invitation to Lt. Col. Allen West, the prominent conservative locked in a tough race against incumbent Democrat Rep. Ron Klein in Florida's 22nd District.

West says politics influenced the charity's decision, and he is demanding a letter of apology to his wife.

"I was upset that I would have to convey the news to my wife Angela and our daughters, Aubrey and Austen, that we were being denied an honor," West told Newsmax in an e-mail on Tuesday. "I was angry that individuals would politicize and blackmail a charitable organization supporting a disease affecting American children."

West and his wife had accepted an invitation from the South Florida Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to be honored in the organization's South Florida Finest Couple fundraiser.

But West tells Newsmax that he received a call on Monday from the foundation’s executive director, informing him the charity had received complaints that he was scheduled to honored. West was told that major donors had complained it would "politicize" the event.

West was told that, if he did not step aside, it could cost the foundation up to $200,000 in donations. West consented and agreed not to participate in the event.

West now says he has an e-mail trail that proves the individual behind those complaints to the foundation was Klein's wife. He says she prodded prominent donors to voice objections.

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