Party-Related Businesses Get Fulani Funds

Lenora B. Fulani, running for President under the New Alliance Party banner, has channeled more than $450,000 in campaign funds to supporting businesses tied to the party, according to campaign records.

Fulani’s 1992 campaign has qualified for just over $1 million in federal matching funds so far--about $175,000 more than the campaign of former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr.

It is legal for a political campaign to purchase services from companies owned by the candidate’s close associates, said Scott Moxley of the Federal Election Commission. Such services must be offered at no more than fair market value, he said.

“That’s one of the things we’re going to look at,” Moxley said Monday. After the election, the FEC conducts an extensive audit of every campaign that received matching funds, he said.

So far, Fulani’s presidential campaign has spent about $2.2 million, according to campaign finance reports. Of that, almost $456,000 went to party-related businesses between April 1, 1991, and Feb. 29, 1992--including $25,000 for copies of the National Alliance, the party newspaper, FEC records show.

Fulani, who initially ran as a Democrat, won just 402 votes in the New Hampshire primary Feb. 18. She dropped out of the remaining Democratic primaries and is running as an independent. Were she to participate in another primary, she would have to get 20% of the vote to continue to qualify for matching funds. As an independent, she qualifies without having to meet such a threshold.