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Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
Lenora Fulani and Pat Buchanan say goodbye.
Jun 19, 2000 | Pat Buchanan and Lenora Fulani exchanged "Dear John" letters today, bringing the unlikely union of the social conservative and longtime leftist to a formal end. Though tensions had been brewing between the two sides for weeks, Fulani's resignation as co-chair of the Buchanan campaign Monday comes at an inopportune time for Buchanan, as Reform Party voters begin to cast ballots in the party's presidential primary.
"Well, I regret to see it," said former Reform Party chairman Pat Choate, who has been a Buchanan supporter. "I have an enormous respect for Lenora Fulani and consider her a personal friend. On the other hand, I can see her perspective. I sense that what is happening here is she's opening up her latitude to mount a campaign for the party chairmanship."
That vote will be made at the party's convention this summer in Long Beach, Calif. The convention is also expected to feature a floor fight for the party's presidential nomination and control of $12.6 million in federal matching funds.
"There's going to be a real fight at the convention," said Choate. "It's going to be what a political convention should be, not some $70 million Hollywood scripted event."
In her letter of resignation, Fulani alluded to a quid pro quo in which she would support Buchanan's presidential bid in exchange for Buchanan's support of Fulani as national chairwoman of the Reform Party.
Buchanan responded with a letter of his own, saying that he did not feel Fulani at the head of the party would "be in the interests of our campaign. This is not because you lack the talent or ability ... however I do not believe you could unify the party at Long Beach."
"I think it's an alliance that served both of their interests very well," Choate said of the Fulani/Buchanan connection. "It enabled him to take on Ventura. At the same time, this whole thing helped Lenora have a major podium to speak. She and Pat both benefited from that. It just seems to me that they're at a point where Lenora is going to run for chair of the party and Pat will probably be backing one of his supporters. There seems to be a very normal progression here."
One of Buchanan's rivals for the Reform Party nomination, John Hagelin, welcomed Fulani's resignation. "I anticipated it, of course," Hagelin said. Though Fulani has not endorsed Hagelin's bid, he said: "Lenora is really dedicated to grass-roots democracy and she more or less already assured me that she would never let Buchanan overthrow the public plebiscite. So in a sense -- the most important sense -- I feel I've already had Fulani's support. I respect her unwillingness to play that game."
When asked whether he would support Fulani for chairwoman, Hagelin said: "I have to talk to her and see. Within the Reform Party, my whole strategy has been to stay above the fray and promote party unity. We'll just have to see whether she is the person to best unify the party."
