Spitzer Probes Fulani Kid-Abuse Charges

NY Post/June 27, 2005
By Stefan C. Friedman

State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is looking into charges from a "credible" witness that Independence Party leader Lenora Fulani and co-workers abused children participating in the group's All Stars Project, City Confidential has learned.

The accusation comes from Molly Hardy, a Los Angeles-based writer who worked with the All Stars, an Independence Party-supported arts group for inner-city kids in New York.

"I witnessed emotional and verbal abuse of teenagers who were brought to New York under the auspices of being 'program leaders,' " Hardy wrote to Spitzer in the complaint against Fulani and her group.

"They were put up in a flop house, verbally intimidated and abused by Lenora Fulani and worked from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. They also panhandled on the streets to earn money for the trip."

Hardy's charges have been circulating for weeks, and some of her claims were reported in last week's Village Voice. Spitzer's office told the Voice it had yet to receive Hardy's allegations.

But after City Confidential produced a time-stamped response Hardy received when she filed her complaint with Spitzer months ago, his office changed its tune — now saying for the first time that the allegations are serious.

"The conduct described in the e-mail is a source of concern," Spitzer spokesman Darren Dopp said, adding that Hardy sounded "credible."

"We may or may not have jurisdiction to address these allegations. If we do, we will," Dopp continued, noting the AG could pass on the complaint to either city Child Protective Services or the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

Dopp said Hardy's e-mail must have been lost inside the AG's office.

Fulani denied the accusations, saying, "There is no emotional and verbal abuse. It's an anti-abuse program with a track record of tremendous success."

Hardy's scathing charges could present problems not only for Fulani — who has made comments in the past that have been widely condemned as anti-Semitic — but for Spitzer and Mayor Bloomberg, both of whom have ties to her party.