For an anti-Semite, this guy’s got tons of chutzpah.
A two-bit political gadfly named Thomas Lopez-Pierre has been running for City Council on an outrageous platform that calls for stopping “greedy Jewish landlords” from committing “ethnic cleansing” against blacks.
His low-rent hatemongering seemed designed to get as much negative attention as possible. And it did — as Jewish groups and leaders demanded he be booted out of the Democratic Party.
When I am elected in September, I will protect Black/Hispanic tenants from “Greedy Jewish Landlords”! Watch video: https://t.co/bbCjquLrAz pic.twitter.com/ptRJWbJVSs
— Thomas Lopez-Pierre (@VoteLopezPierre) April 25, 2017
In the midst of this firestorm a GoFundMe called “Stop Thomas Lopez-Pierre Hate Campaign” suddenly popped up and was so successful it raised $5,781.
But anyone who donated hoping to actually stop Lopez-Pierre is going to be sorely disappointed — because the page was created by the candidate himself to scam money from his foes.
“I call it bait and switch,” Lopez-Pierre actually bragged to The Post.
“I intend to use the money to pay for my marketing expenses. The people who are doing this [donating] oppose me. I thank them for their support.”
Lopez-Pierre is trying to win a council primary election for a seat in upper Manhattan that is now held by heavily favored incumbent Mark Levine, who is Jewish.
Although he has little chance in the Sept. 12 contest, he’s done his best to get his name out there, by any means necessary.
He recently released a video filmed in front of Levine’s office in which he says: “Together, we can defeat the greedy Jewish landlords that are engaged in ethnic cleansing.”
On his campaign Web site, he writes, “Jewish landlords . . . are at the forefront of pushing black and Hispanic tenants out of their apartments.”
On his phony GoFundMe page, Lopez-Pierre took advantage of the backlash by posting a picture of himself with a big X over it, along with the call to donate money to stop him. He claims he had help starting the page — which is now closed — from a rabbinical student. “It was a joke,” he said. “We didn’t expect it would raise $1,000.”
Manhattan Democratic Party Chairman Keith Wright said Wednesday that he’s investigating whether it’s possible to remove Lopez-Pierre from the Democratic Party. Levine said Lopez-Pierre’s expulsion can’t come soon enough.
“I absolutely believe he should be removed from the party,” he said. “We don’t want someone in our party who is an anti-Semite, misogynist and homophobe.”
Levine also called the bogus GoFundMe “a pretty clear case of fraud.”
