Al Sharpton in Money, Power, Politics, by Joyce Purnick

On Crime: Made name as "Sultan of Spin" on Tawana Brawley case

The large, loud Reverend Al, "The Sultan of Spin" as the "Times" of London called him, has never been elected to office but shapes NY politics as surely as any old-time political boss, and just as effectively, if not more so. A Huckster to some, a statesman to others, Sharpton first made his name in 1987 when he defended a young black woman named Tawana Brawley, whose claims of abduction and rape by a group of white men were ultimately exposed as a cruel hoax.

Sharpton never admitted error, parading instead as an in-your-face voice of the disaffected.

Many Jews suspected him of anti-Semitism; the business community worried that if his candidate Ferrer won, Sharpton would have too much influence in City Hall. Others saw him as a fact of NY life while still others venerated him as a genuine representative of the poor, the abused and the disaffected.

Source: Bloomberg: Money, Power, Politics, by Joyce Purnick, p.101 Sep 28, 2010

The above quotations are from Mike Bloomberg: Money, Power, Politics, by Joyce Purnick. Click here for main summary page. Click here for a profile of Al Sharpton. Click here for Al Sharpton on all issues.
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