Eutrusca
28-05-2005, 14:19
NOTE: I have read a number of posts on here which indicated that the US should have more political parties. This article throws up all sorts of red flags about why having more political parties would not necessarily be "a good thing." [ This article is four pages long. To read the entire article, click on the title. ]
In New York, Fringe Politics in Mainstream (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/28/nyregion/28party.html?th&emc=th)
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Published: May 28, 2005
More than a decade ago, when Fred Newman and Lenora Fulani embraced Marxist ideology, they could not persuade even the Rev. Al Sharpton to run under the banner of their fringe political party in his 1992 Senate bid.
Mr. Sharpton, seeking to gain legitimacy as a candidate, began distancing himself from the two and from their New Alliance Party, as questions about his past association with them threatened to undermine his campaign and his credibility.
But in recent years, Dr. Fulani and Dr. Newman have found many of the state's top political leaders eager to court their latest organization, the Independence Party of New York.
Through the party, Dr. Fulani and Dr. Newman, who were once considered eccentric figures on the political fringe, have found new stature, to the point where Republicans like Gov. George E. Pataki to Democrats like Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and United States Senator Charles E. Schumer have courted their party's support. Today, the Independence Party is expected to endorse the re-election bid of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a Republican.
The rise of Dr. Newman and Dr. Fulani from outsider status - with organizations that were as interested in psychotherapy and Marxist ideology as in electoral politics - has been part of a strategy that has resulted in their dominance over the Independence Party. The party has emerged as a powerful vote-getter in many state and local races, knocking the Conservative Party off the third line on the ballot and giving Mr. Bloomberg his margin of victory in 2001.
In recent years, Dr. Newman, a psychotherapist, and Dr. Fulani, who ran two quixotic campaigns for the White House, have, according to the party's state chairman, became the dominant force in the Independence Party's New York City branch, and have a significant influence on the direction of the state party.
For politicians like Mr. Bloomberg, the Independence Party's backing is an invaluable asset in a city where the vast majority of voters are registered Democrats. It will give voters the option of casting their ballots for the mayor on the Independence line instead of the Republican line. But the party's support has come at some cost, with Mr. Bloomberg recently having to distance himself from Dr. Fulani after she refused to disavow remarks she wrote in 1989 in which she said Jews "had to sell their souls to acquire Israel and are required to do the dirtiest work of capitalism" and had to "function as mass murderers of people of color" to keep it.
"With Lenora Fulani, I don't agree with her despicable comments," Mr. Bloomberg said in a meeting with The New York Times. "I've said so, other people have said so. But you know, you walk away from every party where one person in it said something that you violently disagree with, you wouldn't be a member of the Democratic Party, you wouldn't be a member of the Republican Party, you wouldn't be a member of any party."
Dr. Fulani's comments and the group's widening ties to the state's leading politicians have caused former Independence Party leaders and former followers of Dr. Newman to resurrect accusations that he uses his psychotherapy centers as recruiting tools for his political activities. And they charge that the reverse is also true: People who enter his world through his political activities are channeled into his therapeutic practice.
"Fred Newman's organizations are nothing if not intertwined," Jeremiah Duboff said in an e-mail message, adding that he worked with Dr. Newman and his organizations from 1990 to 1997.
There is no suggestion that Dr. Newman and his followers influence Mr. Bloomberg's governance of the city. As is often the case in politics, the alliance between the mayor, a self-made billionaire, and Dr. Newman appears to be one of political convenience. Officials like Mr. Bloomberg either choose to ignore or do not know of other activities - past and present - of some of the party's leaders, while Dr. Newman and his followers win credibility and validation for all of their work, both inside and outside government.
[ This article is four pages long. Click here (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/28/nyregion/28party.html?th&emc=th) to read the entire article. ]
In New York, Fringe Politics in Mainstream (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/28/nyregion/28party.html?th&emc=th)
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Published: May 28, 2005
More than a decade ago, when Fred Newman and Lenora Fulani embraced Marxist ideology, they could not persuade even the Rev. Al Sharpton to run under the banner of their fringe political party in his 1992 Senate bid.
Mr. Sharpton, seeking to gain legitimacy as a candidate, began distancing himself from the two and from their New Alliance Party, as questions about his past association with them threatened to undermine his campaign and his credibility.
But in recent years, Dr. Fulani and Dr. Newman have found many of the state's top political leaders eager to court their latest organization, the Independence Party of New York.
Through the party, Dr. Fulani and Dr. Newman, who were once considered eccentric figures on the political fringe, have found new stature, to the point where Republicans like Gov. George E. Pataki to Democrats like Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and United States Senator Charles E. Schumer have courted their party's support. Today, the Independence Party is expected to endorse the re-election bid of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a Republican.
The rise of Dr. Newman and Dr. Fulani from outsider status - with organizations that were as interested in psychotherapy and Marxist ideology as in electoral politics - has been part of a strategy that has resulted in their dominance over the Independence Party. The party has emerged as a powerful vote-getter in many state and local races, knocking the Conservative Party off the third line on the ballot and giving Mr. Bloomberg his margin of victory in 2001.
In recent years, Dr. Newman, a psychotherapist, and Dr. Fulani, who ran two quixotic campaigns for the White House, have, according to the party's state chairman, became the dominant force in the Independence Party's New York City branch, and have a significant influence on the direction of the state party.
For politicians like Mr. Bloomberg, the Independence Party's backing is an invaluable asset in a city where the vast majority of voters are registered Democrats. It will give voters the option of casting their ballots for the mayor on the Independence line instead of the Republican line. But the party's support has come at some cost, with Mr. Bloomberg recently having to distance himself from Dr. Fulani after she refused to disavow remarks she wrote in 1989 in which she said Jews "had to sell their souls to acquire Israel and are required to do the dirtiest work of capitalism" and had to "function as mass murderers of people of color" to keep it.
"With Lenora Fulani, I don't agree with her despicable comments," Mr. Bloomberg said in a meeting with The New York Times. "I've said so, other people have said so. But you know, you walk away from every party where one person in it said something that you violently disagree with, you wouldn't be a member of the Democratic Party, you wouldn't be a member of the Republican Party, you wouldn't be a member of any party."
Dr. Fulani's comments and the group's widening ties to the state's leading politicians have caused former Independence Party leaders and former followers of Dr. Newman to resurrect accusations that he uses his psychotherapy centers as recruiting tools for his political activities. And they charge that the reverse is also true: People who enter his world through his political activities are channeled into his therapeutic practice.
"Fred Newman's organizations are nothing if not intertwined," Jeremiah Duboff said in an e-mail message, adding that he worked with Dr. Newman and his organizations from 1990 to 1997.
There is no suggestion that Dr. Newman and his followers influence Mr. Bloomberg's governance of the city. As is often the case in politics, the alliance between the mayor, a self-made billionaire, and Dr. Newman appears to be one of political convenience. Officials like Mr. Bloomberg either choose to ignore or do not know of other activities - past and present - of some of the party's leaders, while Dr. Newman and his followers win credibility and validation for all of their work, both inside and outside government.
[ This article is four pages long. Click here (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/28/nyregion/28party.html?th&emc=th) to read the entire article. ]