Lenora Fulani

A group of organizers that wants to see a debate in Harlem between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton made a unmissable showing with these t-shirts last night at Obama's appearance at the Apollo. As one of the members, outspoken political activist and mayoral candidate Lenora Fulani told me, the group “wants to hear the distinction between [the two candidates], like where they stand on, not just particular issues, but the implementation of all the great things they’re planning to do.”

More after the jump.   read more »

Lenora Fulani, who ran for president and governor and is planning a bid for citywide office in 2009, is getting involved in the national stuff again, demanding a debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

From a public statement her supporters at the Independence Party of New York City sent out yesterday:

"Endorsers of the call for a Clinton/Obama forum at the Apollo Theatre will hold a press conference Friday outside the Apollo and preview their plans to march in the African-American Day Parade this Sunday. The contingent is organized by Lenora Fulani and members of The Committee for a Harlem Debate Between Clinton and Obama."

Odds, anyone? 

The city’s Independence Party, which is currently rallying around Lenora Fulani’s 2009 citywide race, is looking for fund-raisers. A reader passed on this help wanted ad from Craigslist, which says, “The New York City Independence Party is seeking energetic callers for 6 week fundraising drive, with possibility of long-term work.”

Other jobs on that zany electronic message board:

Policy analyst for Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Communications Coordinator for Rory Lancman.

Communications Director for the Working Families Party.

Constituent liasion for Diana Reyna.

Part-time legislative director for Darlene Mealy.

A “Press/Community Relations/Legislative Intern” for Darlene Mealy.

And campaign staff for the Working Families Party.

Never one to cut out early on a warm, sunny Friday, Azi sends along the news that the Lenora Fulani faction of the Independence Party has won back the right to control the selection of party candidates in New York City.

Fulani, who waged an independent bid for the presidency in 1988 and sought the Democratic nomination in 1992, and her New York City counterparts have been at odds with the state Independence Party, which in June seized control of the candidate selection process for New York City. But the Fulani-aligned Independence organizations in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island won a ruling from a state Supreme Court Judge yesterday that hands control back to them.

The upshot: Fulani, assuming the ruling holds, now has an open path to the 2009 general election ballot in New York City. Presumably, she’ll run for Mayor (although Azi notes that a “public advocate debate with her and Norman Siegel and Eric Gioia would be amazing!). The Republicans could be a loser in this, since – more so than the Democrats – they need extra ballot lines to compete in the fall; with the state Independence Party controlling the New York City line, an alliance with the G.O.P. would have been possible. But if Fulani wants the line for herself, the G.O.P. can forget that idea. (However, Azi also points out that anyone can start their own ballot line with relative ease – including, hypothetically I assume, “the Azi Paybarah First Party.”)

UPDATE: A reader suggests Fulani's legal victory might not amount to much and makes several points. One is that "invalidation of the state party rule was largely on technical grounds and it's my belief that if the state party passes a rules change making a special provision for the 2009 citywide races, that would be upheld." Also, the reader notes that Fulani, even if she prevails in court, would still need to endure a cumbersome petitioning process for her party to appear on the '09 ballot -- and also a  potential challenge in an IP primary, perhaps not a far-fetched idea given her negative ratings. 

Okay. Barring extraordinary circumstances, this will be the last item here on Lenora Fulani this week.

Even as she capped off an announcement that she’s going to run for mayor and repudiate her anti-Semitic comments from 18 years, Fulani pointedly refused to retreat from another controversial position:

that it’s OK for therapists to sleep with their patients. It’s something that Fulani’s mentor, Fred Newman, had previously said was acceptable.

During an interview on New York 1 News last night, Fulani said the issue was too complex to be discussed accurately at that moment.

“There’s a whole dialogue in post-modern psychology that engages the problem with boundaries, the issues with boundaries," she said. "It’s an important discussion. It’s an intellectual discussion. To reduce it to whether or not whether the patient and, or Fred, and a patient sleeps together, it’s absurd.”

Another highlight of her appearance came when she attacked people who had previously asked her repudiate her anti-Semitic marks.

Fulani said she didn’t because “I thought the people who were making these demands were doing it for reasons that I didn’t support,” dismissing them as "political attacks."

The entire interview can be seen here.  read more »

"I am repudiating my remarks of 18 years ago."

That was from Lenora Fulani of the Independence Party earlier today as she announced the formation of an exploratory committee for a "city-wide" office. The chances are "very high" it will be mayor, she told me after the press conference.

The 1989 remarks in question - in which she described Jews as "mass murderers of people of color" - were a big part of the reason the Michael Bloomberg, and other mainstream politicians who have accepted support from her Independence Party, have been careful to maintain their distance from her in public.

During the press conference, Fulani vowed to emphasize community policing, education reform and nonpartisan elections.

Several of her supporters were apparently expecting the old Fulani, saying afterwards that they were surprised by her comments that all the people of the Middle East -- Israeli and Palestinian alike -- are victims, which is a distinct change from her previous statements.

"Much has happened since the time I wrote those words,” Fulani said. "My views have changed as part of that process. I do not view Israel as an aggressor. The tragedy is a tragedy for Jew and Arab alike."

Tonight, Lenora Fulani, her lawyer Harry Kresky and strategist Jackie Salit will appear on NY1’s Inside City Hall - a network that Fulani said earlier this year treated her like a “nappy-headed ho.”

A written statement from Fulani is after the jump.  read more »

While the Republican state Senate majority was holding a hearing about the Spitzer administration's ethics issues, Eliot Spitzer was in Chelsea with Michael Bloomberg and others talking about expanding health care coverage.

During a Q&A, I tried to ask the mayor why ads for his quasi-campaign web site now appear on Google alongside searches for certain phrases like “education,” “climate change” and “nonpartisan.”

His somewhat unsatisfying response: “I have absolutely no idea. You’ll have to ask Google. They’re the ones that run the software.".

“Probably so they can increase the ad rates they charge the mayor,” Spitzer added.

Bloomberg then deflected a question about whether he would support Lenroa Fulani’s run for mayor, since she supported him twice.

Spitzer was also asked about the Albany hearings into whether his aides acted improperly in trying to discredit Joe Bruno.

"Guys, look, I have said all I’m going to say. I’m not going to pass judgment of what others do. I’ve answered questions. Been absolutely open. Traveled the state to answer all those questions. Now we’re on back to the business of the people. What others do is up to them," he said.

There’s a new player in the ongoing fight between the Independence Party of New York City and their own state party organization: the National Action Network.

A lawyer for NAN, which is run by Al Sharpton, joined the city organization of the Independence Party, which is controlled by Lenora Fulani supporters, in Brooklyn state Supreme Court yesterday. They were arguing against the the state party's efforts to take control of the nominating process within New York City.

 

“I’m here and NAN is here because whenever the voting rights of minorities are threatened, we have to be on the front lines and do what’s right and what’s right in this situation is very clear,” NAN’s attorney, Michael Hardy, said in a public statement.

Hardy's presence is significant because it shows a willingness to side with Fulani, who is considering a run for mayor. With the support of NAN, and Sharpton, Fulani’s candidacy could get a lot harder to ignore.

I’m waiting to hear back from NAN for further comment.

The press release from Independence Party in New York City about the case is after the jump.  read more »

I asked Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf what he thought about the prospect of Independence Party activist Lenora Fulani getting into into the 2009 mayor's race.

His assessment: she would be "great fodder for any negative campaign."

UPDATE: Cathy Stewart, New York County Independence Party Chair emailed just now to say, “Negative campaigning is what voters rejected when they elected Mike Bloomberg twice. The issue in 2009  is whether we can keep the Bloomberg era of nonpartisanship going or whether the city is going to revert back to the days of clubhouse politics.” 

Controversial Independence Party activist (and Bloomberg supporter) Lenora Fulani may be running for mayor in 2009.

When asked about the possibility, Sarah Lyons, an Independence Party functionary and Fulani supporter, said, “We’re not in a position to say anything about it, but I can tell you this, though: that she is planning on holding a press conference next week.”

About?

“It’s about the 2009 citywide elections.”

A source I spoke with claimed to heard directly from Fulani that she would enter the 2009 mayoral race.

Fulani is best known as an outspoken member of the Independence Party who, like Michael Bloomberg, bemoans the two-party system that dominates city politics. She helped lead the Bloomberg on Row C campaign, which sought to get Democrats to vote for the newly registered Republican without pulling the Republican lever.

Bloomberg accepted the group’s support in 2001, which provided him with a crucial margin of victory, but tried distancing himself from Fulani in 2005.

For years, she’s been dogged by accusations of anti-Semitism stemming from remarks she made in the 1980s and hasn’t fully disavowed. (Lots more about all that here.)

Mark your calendars: the state Independence Party is getting together, apart.

A week from Monday, the New York County chapter of the party, which is closely associated with Lenora Fulani, will have its annual fund-raiser at the Woolworth Kitchen Tower.

Tomorrow, a rival, Staten Island-based faction will hold an event to present awards to Councilman Vinny Ignizio, Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer and Village Voice writer Tom Robbins.

It’s safe to say whoever shows up to one probably won’t show up to the other. But it's nice to know that party infighting isn't putting a damper on the social schedule.

UPDATE: NY1 Political Director Bob Hardt responds: "Ms. Fulani is obviously entitled to her opinion but our award-winning record of covering her and her organizations speaks for itself. Ms. Fulani has received several opportunities to appear on our program and has had ample opportunity to give her side of the story in every report we've aired about her."

Lenora Fulani doesn't think much of NY1 host Dominic Carter.

At a panel discussion about race and media in midtown, Fulani, who was in the audience, told Carter, who was a panelist, that his network treated her like "a nappy headed ho."

"My employers are emailing your network and I liked you a lot more when you were with WBLS, LIB and [with] us in the streets because what you and your network now do, have done to me as a black woman is to relate to me as a nappy headed ho."

Fulani last appeared on NY1 in 2005 when she failed to disavow statements critics have called anti-Semitic.

After the panel, Fulani told me she was referring to how she thought the station treated all black women, not just her.

WARNING: If you find accounts of the perpetual feuding within the Independence Party to be boring and incomprehensible, do not read any further.

The state Independence Party organization has taken the unusual step of forming a three-member panel (sound familiar?) to investigate the party's county organizations and see if their rosters contain phantom party members. (This, according to IP member Frank Morano, who is perhaps best known in NY political circles for an ostensibly earnest effort to draft Lindsay Lohan into politics.)

State party rules require a certain number of active members to be on a county organization's committee in order for it to have the power to endorse candidates and function autonomously. Morano said that he and others suspect some organizations have on their committees people who never asked to be there, people who moved out of state and others who are ineligible to serve.

The members of this new panel include Tom Connolly, who chairs the Rensselaer County organization, state party secretary Bill Bogart and Morano.

All three are loyalists of state chairman, Frank MacKay, who is in a protracted fight with Lenora Fulani and others in the party.

For those of you who could benefit from a quick review: MacKay says that Fulani is a racist and her followers are under the spell of a cult led by pseudo-psychologist Fred Newman, while Fulani and her people say that MacKay is a racist and a pawn of the Democratic and Republican Parties.

Imagine those IP holiday parties!

-- Azi Paybarah

Anti-Semite Fulani Fleeces the City  read more »

A potentially interesting side-story to Tuesday's primaries....

We're still awaiting the full results of a series of Independence Party contests between supporters and detractors of the controversial leader Lenora Fulani.

As most of you probably know, the Indendence Party -- the biggest minor party in New York -- was recently rendered non-radioactive for mainstream elected officials when Fulani's supporters were purged from the party's executive committee by the state chairman.

I don't have enough information yet to know whether the Fulani people did well enough to regain control of the party. (I may be missing something, but the results are shockingly hard to get a hold of and even harder to decipher.) But one party source -- a Fulani critic -- says that the Fulani faction prevailed in two contested races in Queens.

I guess the question, if Fulani prevails, is whether city and statewide candidates who have recently benefited from IP support -- see Mayor Bloomberg, Eliot Spitzer, and Jeanine Pirro for example -- will have to go back to foreswearing the party's backing.

-- Azi Paybarah

Lenora Fulani is one of those people who no one can find anything nice to say about, so small wonder that four politicians--Betsy Gotbaum, Alan Hevesi, Jerrold Nadler and Chris Quinn --have joined hands (and followed in Scott Stinger's footsteps) to oppose $12.5 million in tax-free financing that the Bloomberg administration will consider at a public hearing tomorrow for a Fulani-affiliated nonprofit youth program, the All Stars Project. What makes this interesting is that Bloomberg has had trouble distancing himself from Fulani ("a virulent anti-Semite," according to Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum) or her mentor Fred Newman (the "figurehead of a cult that sexually exploits women"), although he did cop 74,000 votes from the Independence Party last year, which was once led by her and in which she is still influential. -Matthew Schuerman

Gawker has all the Tom Suozzi you can handle. Dawn Summers has a must-read riff on the race in the Brooklyn 11th congressional district, and how it's affecting her family.

"Nothing you can do? There'd better be something you can do. There is an election coming up and if this is how you treat constituents, you can bet I have voted for my last Owens. In fact, I'm voting for the white guy."

Yassky, mom. His name is Yassky. Then you can say the white guy.

Well, one hour later, a representative from Congressman Owens' office was at the SS office, with mom straightening out the whole mess.

The non-profit group associated with Lenora Fulani and Fred Newman is poised to get funding from City Hall.

Bloomberg's administration is poised to provide Fulani and Newman with new $12 million tax-free bond financing for a controversial nonprofit organization they have long controlled. The bond deal, due to be approved by the city's Industrial Development Agency next month, would allow a youth program called the All Stars Project to refinance $8.3 million in outstanding city bonds and add an additional $4.2 million to allow the group to make improvements at its headquarters...

Eliot Spitzer responds to what he thinks is a "ridiculous question" about his commitment to reform politics.

And former Assemblyman Ryan Karben and his wife smile for the camera at the BBQ they hosted this week, where the guests included a few hundred friends - and the two people running to replace him.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

This press release was just issued by the Independence Party of New York:

An unequivocal decision by State Supreme Court Judge Joseph Levine has firmly upheld that the Independence Party of New York State Committee had the right to revoke the Interim County Organizations in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, organizations that are aligned with Dr. Lenora Fulani and Dr. Fred Newman.

Full release, after the jump.  read more »

Lord Richard Rogers--the architect who almost lost his job on the Javits Center expansion--is no Lenora Fulani Lenora Fulani. That's one of her allies in the Independence Party, attorney Harry Kresky explained it during a party meeting on Saturday in midtown.

According to Kresky,

Shelly Silver, the speaker of the New York State Assembly [and] Anthony Weiner, a congressman who ran for mayor, both Jews by the way, essentially said that unless this architect recanted, backed down,and said that he is pro-Israel, and that he attended the meeting by accident, that they would make sure he didn't get the contract. And unlike Dr. Fulani, this architect backed down and recanted. So that's the level of muscling that's going on in the Independence Party and in the country right now.

By the way.

--Azi Paybarah

Lenora Fulani's lawsuit against the Independence Party was dismissed by Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Joseph Levine today.

State Chairman Frank MacKay said of the decision, "This further affirms our membership's contention that any county organization allied with Lenora Fulani has no place in our party and we will use all legal avenues to remove these people from the party."

—Nicole Brydson

Sarah Lyons, a Lenora Fulani ally was removed yesterday as the County Chairperson for the Independence Party on Staten Island.

Replacing Sarah is 21-year-old Frank Morano, formerly of Draft Golisano fame.

So far, the state Independence Party has taken action in Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx.

So what is next? A recall of Manhattan County Chair Cathy Stewart?

State Chairman Frank McKay hopes so. The numbers, he said, are there. Then again, so is Fred Newman.

Of the 900 or so county committee members in Manhattan, "I feel very strongly that there are 106 to 163 outright cult members that, I hope this never happens, but if Fred Newman ever asked them to drink Kool Aid...that they might actually do that," McKay told The Politicker. "I hope it's simply a political cult."

Most of the others don't even know they're on the county committee, he said.

--Azi Paybarah

Among the Bloomberg supporters headed for the Apollo tonight is none other than...Lenora Fulani. Ms. Fulani will hold an informational picket with members of the "Bloomberg on C" coalition (read: Independent Party types).

For any of you hoping Mike could still make a surprise appearance at this debate...she's the last nail in the coffin.

And Fulani is not the only IP'er rushing into the mayor's Apollo debacle. Azi writes in, sharing some snippets from an ad on page 11 of The Amsterdam News. The text is attributed to Jesse Fields, IP candidate for Manhattan BP:

"I don't care whether there's a debate in Harlem or not. I don't care whether Democrat Freddy Ferrer and Conservative Tom Ognibene debate without the mayor," the ad reads. "I do care whether those who claim to represent our interests are really doing something to help the people."

And it continues...

"[Mike Bloomberg] even gave a personal gift to support the Apollo, which the Democrats spent years running into the ground."  read more »

Three cheers for personal gifts!

For a while, it seemed like Lenora Fulani and her allies just kind of strayed into the fraught political terrain of the Middle East conflict along their larger Marxist travels.

But sometimes it seems like they're courting controversy in this political season.

Today, for instance, a press release went out from the Castillo Theater, one of the interlocking organizations -- the Manhattan Independence Party and the All Stars Project are the best known -- linked to Fulani, her partner Fred Newman, and other long time members of their group.

The theater, which has received private support from Mayor Bloomberg, occupies a building financed with a loan the Mayor's administration approved.  read more »

And the show they just announced? An Austrian artist's take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, natch.

"The Castillo Theatre presents 'Hidden Images,' an exhibition of paintings by the contemporary Austrian artist, Wolf Werdigier, that reveal the personal, human and emotional toll of the Middle East conflict and the dreams and hopes of ordinary residents of the region."

The state Independence Party's banishment of Lenora Fulani means a bit less than meets the eye: While she seems to have lost her grip of the State Party -- crucial for 2006 -- she still controls the well-funded, well-organized Manhattan party, one of the few chapters with any real members.

That's the one that's backing Mike in force, and so this move doesn't really affect his relationship with the party.

Anyway, a correspondent who went up to Albany for the big meeting says Fulani offered her critics a solution to her political toxicity:

"If you're saying that because of me you're havng difficulties locally, that might be true. What you should do is invite me to your area, so that I can tell people who I am, what I do, and what I stand for."  read more »

A listening tour, perhaps?

New Yorkers of a certain vintage will remember the night in February 1968, when the “new&rdquo  read more »

New Yorkers of a certain vintage will remember the night in February 1968, when the “new” Madiso  read more »

While Mayor Bloomberg waited about 30 minutes for Reverend Butts to show up (stuck on the LIE, Butts explained), he killed some time by chatting with diners about city politics, family and Harlem history.

One diner he greeted, Enrico Cochrane, 27, clad in a yellow Stop Snitchin' shirt (unclear if he's the same Stop Snitchin' guy who took a flyer from Bill Thompson the other morning, but we like to imagine that he is), took a break from his eggs and sausage to shake the mayor's hand, voice his support, and plug the embattled All Stars Project of Lenora Fulani, the mayor's most unwanted endorser.

"They do a lot of good work," said Cochrane.

"I said to my staff, is this a good project? And they said it was," said the mayor.  read more »

Cochrane said later that he voted for the mayor because he ran on the Independence Party line and explained that the mayor had told him that "the All Stars Project does a lot of good work. If they were doing something wrong he wouldn't support them. But if they were doing good work, he would."

-Jason Horowitz

The Observer's Jason Horowitz, down at City Hall today, writes:

The overbooking of City Hall's steps this afternoon forced supporters of Fernando Ferrer, placards in hand, to wait in the wings as Independence Party leader Lenora B. Fulani railed against the "corruption in the Democratic party" and pledged her support of Mayor Bloomberg. The Mayor, not surprisingly, decided to skip this particular endorsement.

Fulani stood in front of a score of Muslim and Christian preachers to unveil Bloomberg on C, which refers to the Independence party's position on the ballot. She said, somewhat cryptically, that the mayor's absence was understandable, because he was not for Bloomberg on C, but for Bloomberg. She then boasted about the mayor's donation to the Independence party after the last election, when her party was "the margin of victory" but refused to say whether she expected more cash for her support this time around. "I don't know," she insisted. "I hope he gives us billions."

She also refused to address her 1989 remarks that Jews "had to sell their souls to acquire Israel" because her "political advisors" told her "we don't have an environment where we can have a serious discussion about those issues." Her supporters, chattering behind her, didn't understand what the big deal was.  read more »

After cheers of "teach" and "say it" and rousing chants of "Bloomberg on C," that must have made the mayor wince inhis office, the supporters scattered from the steps and the reporters walked over about 10 feet, where Freddy arrived to accept an endorsement from the Communcations Workers of America. When asked about his neighbors on the steps, Ferrer said, "Fulani stands for division. Her party stands for nothing."

As  read more »

As a rising tide of controversy engulfs Lenora Fulani, perennial nominee of the Independence Party,  read more »

Did the dog eat the Attorney General's homework? And his email? And his telephone, too?

In this week's Observer, I wrote an article about Lenora Fulani's hold on local pols who are courting Independence Party endorsements. Ms. Fulani, a controversial lieutenant of the IP, has been accused of child abuse. Eliot Spitzer promised to look into the allegations, after an initial prodding from the Post. Then Virginia demanded that Mike investigate, too, and Mike fired back, saying that Eliot was perfectly capable of handling the matter.

Meanwhile, no one has even bothered to contact Ms. Fulani's accuser. Molly Hardy, a Los Angeles playwright, filed her complaint over the winter, and she still hasn't heard a peep in response.

According to an automated email receipt, the AG's office received Molly's missive on Monday, January 17th at 02:32:13 (24-hour clock, EST).

"It was a little bit awkward in that Molly sent an email to our office back in January. That email sort of got misplaced, waylaid, lost, whatever. I don't know what happened," explained Darren Dopp, an AG spokesman, last week. "Long story short, her email found its way to us again just recently. We have it now and we are trying to follow up."

But it's tough to call California. They're three hours behind us, for crying out loud!  read more »

"Not a word," Molly reported yesterday, via email. "And I even sent another email to them a couple of weeks ago saying, 'I understand you want to contact me but don't know how...here's my email and info.' Nothing."

As of this posting, Molly has been waiting by the phone for 5 months, 21 days, 7 hours, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds. Let's see how long it takes.

Has anyone else noticed that Virginia is the only candidate running for Mayor who has been relentlessly, even reflexively on the attack? Anthony has gotten something of a reputation as an attack dog, but it's Virginia who pushed Freddy much harder on his Diallo remarks than any of her Democratic rivals, sparred with Gifford on Kirtzman's show, and was more willing than other Democrats to pick a fight with Lenora Fulani.

Now she's only one so far even remotely to blame Mike for the recent Howard Beach incident. And nobody seems has even bothered to attack her for being "negative."  read more »

But what do you think the longer-term implications of her feistiness are? Does this push her forward in the primary? What does it mean to her, and the other Democrats', chances in the general?

Mayoral candidate Christopher X. Brodeur, he of the extensive comments, tells us that the city's Independence Party, unlike various other institutions he's gone after on this board, met with him for 45 minutes yesterday at their Manhattan headquarters.

He explained to them that "Bloomberg is trying to sell out the Independence Party" and pointed out that the Mayor hadn't defended Lenora Fulani's remarks.  read more »

"They loved me," he said.

She's come a long way, baby.  read more »

The American Jewish Congress is keeping up the heat on the pols who do business with Lenora Fulani. They're calling on officials to refuse the party's line if Fulani doesn't resign. (They misidentify her as "head" of the Independence Party, which isn't technically true, but never mind.)

We wonder whether Chuck and Eliot will drop the line, taking away the cover they've given Mike; or whether Mike will jump first, leaving his Democratic friends behind.

One line in the press release did catch our eye, from our friend Jeff Wiesenfeld, co-President of the New York arm of the AJCongress.

"Fulani and party leader Fred Newman ought to be thrown out of the party and not given a home, especially one where mainstream public leaders like Senator Charles Schumer, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer or Mayor Michael Bloomberg lend them any bit of credibility."  read more »

Hmm. Didn't Wiesenfeld's old boss, one Mr. Pataki, seek that line rather avidly in 2002?

For Lenora Fulani to get herself cast back beyond the pale? Well, she gave it her best shot on NY1 News last night. We look forward to the reactions of all her many good friends -- Mike, Chuck, Eliot, etc.

The whole exchange between her and Dominic Carter is here, and is worth a read, as is Bob Hardt's amused/astonished commentary.

But the bottom line is that Carter repeatedly asked Fulani about a New Alliance Party publication that said Jews "had to sell their souls to acquire Israel and are required to do the dirtiest work of capitalism - to function as mass murderers of people of color - in order to keep it."

Fulani's response: "What is anti-Semitic about it? ... That quote in my opinion isn't anti-Semitic. It's raising issues that I think need to be explored."

Also, here's the ADL report from which the quote is drawn.

Anyway, we're sure to be reminded that she's just another member of that great institution, the Independence Party. Never mind this photo.  read more »

UPDATE: One correspondent tells us that the best Fulani-and-politicians pictures are here.

We picked up Tom Ognibene's simple, photocopied fundraising letter last night, and his message is right there in the first sentence:

"I seek to restore the Giuliani tradition to New York City government."

It's still an open question whether somebody who looks a lot like a protest candidate can get people to write him checks, or give him votes, in the hope of confining Bloomberg to "Lenora Fulani's extremist 'independence' line only."

But Ognibene told us he thought he'd already had his effect in, among other things, pushing Mike to appeal the gay marriage decision.  read more »

"I put him in a squeeze," he told us gleefully.

Tom was also eager to correct any suggestion in our earlier post that there's any personal animus between him and Queens Republican leader Serphin Maltese. He also denied threatening Serph with taking away his chairmanship if Queens didn't endorse his mayoral campaign. Serph, he told us, might have been under that impression at some point, but Tom told him not to worry.

Mike Bloomberg offered a full-throated endorsement of Fred Newman's and Lenora Fulani's wing of the Independence Party last night, and thanked them again for last year's "anti-corruption award," an honor he shares with convicted felon Guy Velella.

Worth noting were the pols who saw fit to buy advertisements in the event's program, a crucial step in demonstrating your appeal to these independent-minded sorts. Joe Hynes (full page!), Eva Moskowitz, and Joe Bruno all seem to feel they need the Party's line.  read more »

Carolyn Maloney, on the other hand, must just be a true believer in this charming organization.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the leaders of the State Legislature in Albany are engaged in a struggle  read more »

Mark Green and Michael Bloomberg have swapped identities.With two weeks to go until Election Day, Mr  read more »

Speculation concerning the political intentions of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani seems both pointless and t  read more »

A great deal has been made about the new alliance between two perpetual presidential candidates, Len  read more »

Right now, Fred Newman is best known as the man behind Lenora Fulani, an African-American psychologi  read more »