Lenora Fulani Announces Possible Mayoral Run

Independence Party activist Lenora Fulani announced a possible run for mayor Thursday night, while also trying to clear away some old and controversial baggage.

Appearing on NY1’s “Inside City Hall”, Fulani said she intends to run a non-partisan campaign.

She also addressed controversial remarks she made about Jews and Israel in 1989, by apologizing for any hurt she may have caused.

“I’m denouncing them, repudiating them now because I think it’s the right thing to do,” she said.

The comments, which are now widely known in political circles, included the written statement that 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.” […]

But two years ago on “Inside City Hall,” Fulani stuck to her writing.

“That quote and my opinion isn’t anti-Semitic, it’s raising issues that I think need to be explored,” she said in April of 2005.

Since that interview, she has become a liability for many politicians. […]

It’s not just Fulani’s statements about Jews that have caused alarm. Her longtime association with psychotherapist Fred Newman has also raised eyebrows.

Together they helped create the Independence Party in New York State and Fulani is a psychologist at his Manhattan institute – an institute former patients say is home base for the cult Newman leads – a charge Newman denies.

State Independence Party Chairman Frank MacKay is even wary of Fulani’s candidacy for mayor, “It’s a last-ditch desperate money grab for the Newman cult. They are trying to get six-to-one matching funds.”

The state party has been in a legal battle to kick Fulani and Newman out of leadership positions. So running for mayor will be an uphill battle on many fronts.

This is a summary extract from the full article as it appeared on NY1 News, Aug 9, 2007
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