Washington state businessman sued over refusing to hire Muslims donated to Blackburn, Green campaigns

A Washington-based businessman who was once sued by the state for refusing to hire Muslims gave maximum contributions to the campaigns of U.S. Sen.-elect Marsha Blackburn and U.S. Rep.-elect Mark Green.

The contributions came to light after the Jackson Free Press — a Mississippi-based newspaper — recently noted Peter Zieve’s contributions to Republican U.S. Sen. nominee Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Next week, Hyde-Smith will square off in a runoff election against Democrat Mike Espy. 

Earlier this year, Zieve, who previously worked to stop the construction of a mosque, gave two $2,700 contributions to Blackburn, according to the Federal Election Commission. One campaign donation was to Blackburn’s political action committee and the other was to her main Senate committee.

Zieve also gave two donations totaling $5,400 to Green.

According to a 2017 lawsuit from the state of Washington against Electroimpact, Inc., an aerospace automation company which Zieve owns, he repeatedly expressed “hatred” for Muslims and retaliated against non-Muslim employees who opposed his practices.

In the lawsuit against Zieve’s company, the state cited emails — including one from 2015 in which Zieve said, “American born Muslims are almost as dangerous as the Syrian imports."

One company employee said he was asked to watch a video titled “How to stop mosques,” the state said in its lawsuit.

Blackburn campaign spokeswoman Abbi Sigler did not answer whether the senator-elect would return the contributions from Zieve. But, Sigler said, "Marsha condemns any form of hate in the strongest terms."

A spokesman for Green did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

During Blackburn's U.S. Senate race against Democrat Phil Bredesen, the USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee reported that she had previously attended several conferences that watchdog groups say promote hateful ideology. 

In June, Blackburn rejected a conference of white nationalists who had planned to come to Tennessee, adding it was an inappropriate use of state property. 

In January 2017, Blackburn was photographed alongside members of Austria's Freedom Party, a far-right group founded by one-time Nazi officers. 

Blackburn also came under fire for inviting David O. Jones, a Tennessee pastor and former president of the state chapter of the League of the South, to lead a prayer on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004. 

Last year, when Talking Points Memo reported on Blackburn's invitation to Jones, a spokeswoman said the Brentwood Republican was “appalled and saddened by the actions and words of these hate-filled organizations.”

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Zieve's contributions to Blackburn and Green have been questioned by Mark Brooks, a Nashville-based lawyer, who recently emailed the offices of the Tennessee Republicans. 

Brooks asked if Green and Blackburn were aware of Zieve's background when they accepted his donations and whether they now planned to return them.

On Monday, Hyde-Smith's campaign said it had returned Zieve's contributions. 

Blackburn's contributions from Zieve came just weeks before a campaign rally was interrupted by protesters. At an October event featuring U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in Nashville, a protester yelled that Blackburn "is a white supremacist."

Reach Joel Ebert at jebert@tennessean.com or 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.