Citing Statements About Israel, Coffman Returns $500 Donation From GOP State House Candidate

CD-6 Republican candidate Mike Coffman has returned a $500 donation from Rima Sinclair, a Republican state House District 6 candidate whose pro-Palestinian statements have angered many conservatives.

Sinclair's name also appeared prominently on an invitation asking supporters to attend a Coffman fundraiser held last week.

Coffman manager Dustin Zvonek said the campaign will return Sinclair's donation, made in December 2007, after learning of statements Sinclair has made to the media in the past criticizing Israel.

In an interview with KCNC-TV in July 2006, as the Second Lebanon War escalated, Sinclair -- then known as Rima Barakat -- said that "Israeli soldiers now are known to be just bombing and killing babies."

She also said in the interview that the Israeli government "is basically following the Saddam Hussein policies of imprisoning families of people that are wanted - their wives, their sisters, their kids - in order to get revenge on them or bring them in."

A phone message left with Sinclair on Tuesday seeking comment was not returned.

Zvonek said the Coffman campaign mailed her a $500 refund check within the past few days, explaining, "There were some statements that she made in the past regarding Israel and Palestine and Hamas, and when we learned of her statements we decided that that was something that our campaign did not want to be associated with."

Sinclair was also listed as a co-host for a campaign fundraiser held last week by Bill Cox, a friend of Coffman's.

Zvonek said Cox submitted the names of co-hosts to the campaign in February, and the campaign approved the list before they became aware of Sinclair's views.

"After the invite went out some people approached us - me particularly - and said ‘Hey, do you know about her?'" Zvonek said.  "And I said, ‘No.' And they gave me some background information and I did my own research and found that everything that they had said was true.

"And at that point we obviously couldn't take back the fact that we mailed the invite or that we accepted the contribution in December , but we decided that it would be best to send her her money back to her - which we are doing - and just disassociate ourselves with her altogether," Zvonek said.

Sinclair was named to the HD-6 GOP primary ballot at the Denver County GOP Assembly on March 1.