SOME INTERESTING QUESTIONS about new Democratic co-chair Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones. But I think I have the answer, from an article (unfortunately not on the Web) in the Cleveland Plain Dealer dated August 25, 2002:

Despite the entry on her financial disclosure forms that list her stake in “Jihad Filmworks” – an investment worth between $1,001 and $15,000 – her investment was actually in a company called Jihaad Film Works Inc., which was incorporated in 1994 in Cleveland, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office.

Tubbs Jones’ office misspelled the name when filing its disclosures.

The company was started by Rakim Jihaad, 31, an aspiring film maker now living in Chicago. A convert to Islam, Jihaad is the son of Eric Mumford, a Cleveland accountant who incorporated the film company. Mumford’s wife is former Cleveland Heights Municipal Judge Lynn Toler.

A number of family friends invested in Jihaad Film Works, which first made “Murder Roulette,” a mystery, as a low-budget production and whose partners now are trying to interest a major motion picture studio in remaking it with big-name actors.

“It’s a friend, and it’s no more than that,” Tubbs Jones spokeswoman Sheila Harvey said of the congresswoman’s Jihad/Jihaad connection.

“He is American,” said Rakim Jihaad’s father, whose politics lean toward the GOP. “In fact, I’m pretty sure soon he will become a Republican.”

Of course, this could be a damaging connection for Ms. Jones, too, in her new position. . . .