SHARPTON - Rev. Al: source of lies

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NYPost

REV. AL TRICKSTER, THE 'SOURCE' OF LIES

By JACK NEWFIELD

May 14, 2001 -- THE politics of pique have made Al Sharpton a pariah - again.

In 35 years in the newspaper business, I have never disclosed a source. But today - and never again - I have to break that rule.

Al Sharpton was my source for my column that disclosed he had promised to endorse Fernando Ferrer for mayor.

I am reporting this only because I've been listening to Sharpton say all week that Ferrer was my source.

This misdirection is typical of Sharpton, the trickster responsible for the Tawana Brawley hoax, for calling a Jewish shopkeeper in Harlem a "white interloper," and for other cons and confusions.

I developed my story directly with Sharpton over three lunches at the Knickerbocker restaurant in the Village. The story was set to run May 6.

He asked me to hold it until May 8 so that his ally, the Rev. Wyatt Walker, could endorse Ferrer first as part of an orchestrated crescendo.

Journalistically, I shouldn't have agreed. But I did.

My column quoted Sharpton about the glory of a black-Latino-white coalition. The Rev. Trickster now claims Ferrer was my source. That's bull, and he knows it. Ferrer was in no way a source for that story.

Having known the Rev. Trickster since 1982, I worded my lead carefully, saying only that Sharpton "has made a commitment to endorse Ferrer."

I knew that as a protégé of Don King, Sharpton believes a handshake agreement is the start of negotiations, not the conclusion.

The Trickster's game was abetted by some unprofessional journalism by Adam Nagourney of The New York Times, who, I gather, was upset because Sharpton decided to tell me about the endorsement first.

Maybe I should have let him go to the Times.

Anyway, last Wednesday, Nagourney reported that Sharpton told him that he would endorse Ferrer "only if he [Ferrer] publicly pledged to endorse black candidates running for Bronx borough president and city comptroller."

Sharpton tells me that he mentioned white, Jewish Norman Siegel to Nagourney as a candidate he wanted Ferrer to endorse for public advocate. But Nagourney left Siegel out of his story, making it racial when it wasn't.

Michael Kramer of the Daily News got Nagourney to confirm that Sharpton had given him Siegel's name and that he failed to include it in his account.

Nagourney's omission helped fuel all this mayoral mischief.

To his credit, Ferrer repudiated the racial hoop he was asked to jump through.

Ferrer said he would endorse candidates only "on the merits, as I always have."

Mark Green, Alan Hevesi and Peter Vallone have taken the same position.

By engaging in the politics of pique and publicity, Sharpton has devalued his endorsement down to nothing. Whoever gets it will be holding an empty bag with a strange odor.

Truth is, the rev.'s endorsement has no value.

Only two endorsements from undecideds really matter in the Democratic primary - those of Queens Democratic leader Tom Manton and union leader Dennis Rivera. Both command organizations that can deliver votes.

After several years working to improve his reputation and leading the integrated, nonviolent Diallo protests, Sharpton has reverted back to type.

He's just a con man who keeps changing reality as he goes along - refusing ever to give up center stage.

Sharpton was on his way to improving his credibility. Now he has thrown it all away trying to become a deal-making political boss.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001


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