Len Bernardo, the Ulster County Independence Party Boss.

Meet the brains behind the fraud that is the Independence Party

Read The Daily News article published Monday, December 10, 2012.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Until his death in 2011, Fred Newman was an avowed Marxist, a Jew who was given to anti-Semitic ravings and the inventor of a form of psychotherapy that encouraged patients to have sex with him.
• He practiced “social therapy,” which teaches patients to cope with psychological issues by getting involved in politics — which meant backing his causes.
• Former followers have said Newman led people to give up careers and family, and to support his organization financially.
• Newman founded the International Workers Party – blending radical leftist politics with his psychological theories.
• When he set his sights on becoming a force in a newly formed, mainstream organization, first he implanted his agents in the Perot-inspired Patriot Party and then he targeted New York’s fledgling Independence Party.
• Newman gained important power over awarding the party’s ballot line to candidates for offices up to governor and U.S. senator.
• As the Independence Party rolls swelled with the names of unwitting voters who surely share few of the Newman’ obsessions, his troops systematically fulfilled their late founder’s vision by constructing a fantastic illusion of grass-roots support.

Read The Daily News article