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Goetz Enters Independence Party Race

July 30, 2008

It’s not often that there is a notable race for the position of state committee member in a Manhattan Assembly district, let alone one outside of the Democratic or Republican Parties.

But this year there is a challenge in an East Side district to the incumbent state committee member for the Independence Party of New York State, Fred Newman. Dr. Newman, a leading member of the Independence Party, is being challenged by Bernard H. Goetz, the co-called subway gunman.

Mr. Goetz, now 60, became widely known in 1984 when he shot four aggressive teenage panhandlers on a Manhattan subway train. The case provoked passions across the nation, with some condemning Mr. Goetz as a vigilante, and others calling his action a galvanizing event for a city that had been too willing to accept a relentless rise in crime.

All four teenagers survived, though one was paralyzed. Mr. Goetz was convicted of illegal weapons possession, and served eight months in prison. (Note: Mr. Goetz’s given name was consistently spelled Bernhard in court proceedings and news accounts for many years, but he now says that Bernard is the proper spelling, and Bernard is the version used in his voter registration.)

Similarly, Dr. Newman is no stranger to problems of his own. A former Marxist who is now a psychotherapist, Dr. Newman has become a dominant force in the Independence Party in New York, along with Lenora B. Fulani. But he has feuded with the party’s state chairman, Frank MacKay, who has been seeking to remove from the party’s rolls both Dr. Newman and Ms. Fulani. That effort was dismissed by a State Supreme Court justice.

The contest is more a reflection of the tension between Mr. McKay and Dr. Newman.

“Bernie Goetz and I have known each other for more than 10 years and he did this as a favor to me,” said Michael Zumbluskas, a member of the party’s executive committee who is aligned with Mr. McKay. “We’re on this massive fight to get rid of the Fulani and Newman people. “We’re doing everything we can to keep them from running the parties.”

Whether a primary actually takes place is unclear. Mr. Goetz’s nominating petitions are being challenged for having fewer than the required number of signatures. In the Independence Party, a candidate for the party’s state committee from that district would be required to file petitions with 117 valid signatures of registered voters in the party (that translates to 5 percent of the party’s registered voters in that East Side Assembly district).

Many could reasonably conclude that it wouldn’t be that hard of a task to get 117 signatures. But Cathy Stewart, the Manhattan chairwoman for the Independence Party, said that Mr. Goetz fell far short of that number.

“He turned in petitions with two signatures,” she said.

Mr. Newman, not surprisingly, has challenged Mr. Goetz’s petitions. And the New York City Board of Elections is expected to rule on Wednesday whether he will be kicked off the ballot.

“He has every right to run for state committee,” Ms. Stewart said. “But he has not been active in the life of the party or involved in the party’s activities locally. It’s clear that he doesn’t have a base of support among our membership.”

Source: NY Times

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