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| With the approach of the ] for municipal offices, Bloomberg gave the Fulani-controlled Manhattan branch of the party $250,000 to fund a phone bank seeking to recruit volunteers for Bloomberg's re-election campaign. | With the approach of the ] for municipal offices, Bloomberg gave the Fulani-controlled Manhattan branch of the party $250,000 to fund a phone bank seeking to recruit volunteers for Bloomberg's re-election campaign. | ||
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Revision as of 18:49, 28 February 2005
The Independence Party is a political party in the U.S. state of New York. It was formed in 1994, largely by people active in or sympathetic to the Reform Party. More recently, it has seen an internal factional struggle arising from an influx of new members.
In the elections for Governor of New York in 1994, 1998, and 2002, the party's candidate was businessman Tom Golisano, who had been the most important person in the party's founding. His personal wealth enabled him to mount well-funded campaigns. In each election, he finished in third place, far ahead of all other candidates not running on the Democratic or Republican ballot lines. Because Golisano received more than 50,000 votes each time, the party was also guaranteed an automatic ballot line for the succeeding four years.
In 2001 the party endorsed Michael Bloomberg, the Republican candidate for mayor of New York City. The votes he received on the Independence Party ballot line, which counted toward his total under New York's fusion rule, exceeded his margin of victory over Democrat Mark J. Green.
In 2002, Golisano again sought the party's gubernatorial nomination. There was a movement within the party to nominate George Pataki, the Republican incumbent. Golisano won the nomination in a close primary. Golisano charged that the Pataki campaign had filed thousands of fraudulent Independence Party registrations. In the general election, Pataki was endorsed by Lenora Fulani, who has tried to become one of the leaders of the party since its founding and is widely viewed as the key person in the anti-Golisano faction within the party.
With the approach of the 2005 elections for municipal offices, Bloomberg gave the Fulani-controlled Manhattan branch of the party $250,000 to fund a phone bank seeking to recruit volunteers for Bloomberg's re-election campaign.
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