Hillary's Follies

New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is pouncing on the latest campaign bumps for first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in their New York Senate race.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, smarting from news that its chairwoman contributed to Democrat Clinton's campaign, has postponed public discussion of a report said to criticize the New York Police Department under Republican Giuliani.

The commission denied any connection between the revelation and the postponement.

And the first lady has scrapped plans to headline a charity dinner for an Arab-American group because representatives from the Israeli Embassy were not invited. Certain Arab states do not recognize the state of Israel.

"Under these circumstances, Mrs. Clinton will no longer be able to serve as honorary chair of the Mosaic Foundation event," a statement from the first lady's office said.

The Mosaic Foundation is made up of the wives of Arab ambassadors to the U.S. who raise money for charity. This year's dinner on May 3 is to benefit Save the Children. Clinton has served as honorary chairwoman for the dinner for the past three years.

Giuliani campaign spokeswoman Kim Serafin called Clinton's decision to back out "a classic Clinton flip-flop."

Also Thursday, Giuliani denounced a civil rights commission probe of the NYPD after the New York newspaper Newsday reported the panel's chairwoman, Mary Frances Berry, contributed to the first lady's campaign. Berry gave $250 last year to Clinton and another $300 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

"It doesn't take much to figure out this is a political operation," Giuliani said Thursday.