“Certainly no one is hoping for a recession," said Frank MacKay, the chairman of the Independence Party of America, when he called me just now from the road in Charlotte, North Carolina. "But, a recession I think would set up even a more fertile ground for a Bloomberg presidency.”

“That’s my own speculation," he added. "I can’t speak for him. I can’t speak for [Kevin] Sheekey."

MacKay’s busy schedule is taking him to Washington D.C. tomorrow, home to Long Island for his wife’s birthday Wednesday and back to New York City on Thursday.

There’s a new player in the ongoing fight between the Independence Party of New York City and their own state party organization: the National Action Network.

A lawyer for NAN, which is run by Al Sharpton, joined the city organization of the Independence Party, which is controlled by Lenora Fulani supporters, in Brooklyn state Supreme Court yesterday. They were arguing against the the state party's efforts to take control of the nominating process within New York City.

“I’m here and NAN is here because whenever the voting rights of minorities are threatened, we have to be on the front lines and do what’s right and what’s right in this situation is very clear,” NAN’s attorney, Michael Hardy, said in a public statement.

Hardy's presence is significant because it shows a willingness to side with Fulani, who is considering a run for mayor. With the support of NAN, and Sharpton, Fulani’s candidacy could get a lot harder to ignore.

I’m waiting to hear back from NAN for further comment.

The press release from Independence Party in New York City about the case is after the jump.  read more »

Mark your calendars: the state Independence Party is getting together, apart.

A week from Monday, the New York County chapter of the party, which is closely associated with Lenora Fulani, will have its annual fund-raiser at the Woolworth Kitchen Tower.

Tomorrow, a rival, Staten Island-based faction will hold an event to present awards to Councilman Vinny Ignizio, Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer and Village Voice writer Tom Robbins.

It’s safe to say whoever shows up to one probably won’t show up to the other. But it's nice to know that party infighting isn't putting a damper on the social schedule.

The state Independence Party organization has taken the unusual step of forming a three-member panel (sound familiar?) to investigate the party's county organizations and see if their rosters contain phantom party members. (This, according to IP member Frank Morano, who is perhaps best known in NY political circles for an ostensibly earnest effort to draft Lindsay Lohan into politics.)

The members of this new panel include Tom Connolly, who chairs the Rensselaer County organization, state party secretary Bill Bogart and Morano.

For those of you who could benefit from a quick review: MacKay says that Fulani is a racist and her followers are under the spell of a cult led by pseudo-psychologist Fred Newman, while Fulani and her people say that MacKay is a racist and a pawn of the Democratic and Republican Parties.