Another stumble for Sonia? Sotomayor is devoted to a charity founded by wacko Lenora Fulani

The fractured ankle that hobbled Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor yesterday is nothing compared with the political stumble she'll likely encounter when conservatives begin digging into her connection to a charity organization started by controversial political activist Lenora Fulani.

The issue was hidden in plain sight, right there in the May 26 press release issued by the White House to announce Sotomayor's nomination to the high court.

Describing Sotomayor's community service, the White House emphasized that "her favorite project" is "the Development School for Youth program, which sponsors workshops for inner-city high school students."

Since 2005, Judge Sotomayor has conducted a legal workshop for 25 to 35 inner-city students, showing them around federal courtrooms and assigning them various roles as lawyers and jurors in a hypothetical trial of Goldilocks, complete with opening statements, cross-examination and the like.

"It opens up possibilities that the students never dreamed of before," the judge is quoted as saying.

But what the White House didn't say - and maybe didn't know - is that the Development School for Youth program is part of the All Stars Project, founded by Fulani in 1981 as part of a bewildering maze of political and cultural organizations that often mask the guiding hand of Fulani and her mentor, Fred Newman.

The ADL report, "A Cult By Any Other Name," cites Newman's views on psychotherapy - specifically, his belief, which he has put into practice, that sex between therapists and their patients is okay.

Newman earned the ADL's enmity by refusing to retract a 1985 speech in which he called Jews "storm troopers of decadent capitalism against people of color the world over."

Fulani made similar comments in 1989, claiming 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 stood by the remarks until 2007, when she said, "I disassociate myself from them," whatever that means.

More than one mainstream leader has played along with Newman and Fulani. Mayor Bloomberg funded the All Stars from his private fortune, gave $250,000 to the Independence Party in 2005 and has promised more private loot this year, in a transparent purchase of the party's ballot line.

And despite the All Stars' claim not to receive government funding, the group's 42nd St. headquarters was financed by $12 million in tax-free city bonds despite vocal objections from a cross section of New York pols.

Corporate execs, including the CEOs of Ernst & Young and Dun & Bradstreet, can be seen on YouTube enthusiastically describing the money, credibility and internship slots they have given the All Stars. And Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates filmed a glowing cameo of the group that avoided any mention of Fulani's radical politics or of the All Stars' internal memos describing its goals as "first and foremost revolutionary, not esthetic."

But the Newman-Fulani connection could still hurt her. What New York considers a wacky political sideshow takes on a very different, disquieting tone when it lands at the front door of the Supreme Court.

The White House - and, frankly, Sotomayor herself - should have asked a few questions before lending precious credibility to the politics of the bizarre.

what the White House didn't say - and maybe didn't know - is that the Development School for Youth program is part of the All Stars Project, founded by Fulani in 1981 as part of a bewildering maze of political and cultural organizations that often mask the guiding hand of Fulani and her mentor, Fred Newman.

As detailed by the Anti-Defamation League and many New York newspapers, Newman and/or Fulani have launched or directed groups including the New Alliance Party and International Workers Party (both avowedly neo-Marxist organizations), the East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy (where both Newman and Fulani are listed as faculty members), the New York State Independence Party, the Castillo Cultural Center - and the All Stars Project.

The ADL report, "A Cult By Any Other Name," cites Newman's views on psychotherapy - specifically, his belief, which he has put into practice, that sex between therapists and their patients is okay.

Newman earned the ADL's enmity by refusing to retract a 1985 speech in which he called Jews "storm troopers of decadent capitalism against people of color the world over."

Fulani made similar comments in 1989, claiming 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."

...More than one mainstream leader has played along with Newman and Fulani. Mayor Bloomberg funded the All Stars from his private fortune, gave $250,000 to the Independence Party in 2005 and has promised more private loot this year, in a transparent purchase of the party's ballot line.

And despite the All Stars' claim not to receive government funding, the group's 42nd St. headquarters was financed by $12 million in tax-free city bonds despite vocal objections from a cross section of New York pols.

Corporate execs, including the CEOs of Ernst & Young and Dun & Bradstreet, can be seen on YouTube enthusiastically describing the money, credibility and internship slots they have given the All Stars. And Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates filmed a glowing cameo of the group that avoided any mention of Fulani's radical politics or of the All Stars' internal memos describing its goals as "first and foremost revolutionary, not esthetic."

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.