Independence Party activist Lenora Fulani announced a possible run for mayor Thursday night, while also trying to clear away some old and controversial baggage.

Appearing on NY1's "Inside City Hall", Fulani said she intends to run a non-partisan campaign.

She also addressed controversial remarks she made about Jews and Israel in 1989, by apologizing for any hurt she may have caused.

"I'm denouncing them, repudiating them now because I think it's the right thing to do," she said.

The comments, which are now widely known in political circles, included the written statement that Jews "had to sell their souls to acquire Israel and are required to do the dirtiest work of capitalism — to function as mass murderers of people of color — in order to keep it."

Fulani now says her words were excessive, and when asked if she agreed with critics who called them anti-Semitic, she said, “I guess the best way I know to answer that is that I'm not an anti-Semite. What I do believe is that to the degree that people were hurt by them, that's problematic. And the world has changed a lot and I'm learning from those changes about what is going on in Israel and the Middle East."

But two years ago on "Inside City Hall," Fulani stuck to her writing.

“That quote and my opinion isn’t anti-Semitic, it’s raising issues that I think need to be explored,” she said in April of 2005.

Since that interview, she has become a liability for many politicians.

Fulani is often credited with helping Mayor Michael Bloomberg win the 2001 election. He also donated money to her youth charity, but he has since distanced himself from her.

Bloomberg didn't offer much encouragement for her possible run for mayor.

"Everybody has a right, if they live in New York City and are over a certain age, to run for mayor," said Bloomberg.

It's not just Fulani's statements about Jews that have caused alarm. Her longtime association with psychotherapist Fred Newman has also raised eyebrows.

Together they helped create the Independence Party in New York State and Fulani is a psychologist at his Manhattan institute — an institute former patients say is home base for the cult Newman leads — a charge Newman denies.

State Independence Party Chairman Frank MacKay is even wary of Fulani's candidacy for mayor, "It's a last-ditch desperate money grab for the Newman cult. They are trying to get six-to-one matching funds."

The state party has been in a legal battle to kick Fulani and Newman out of leadership positions. So running for mayor will be an uphill battle on many fronts.