Mayor Bloomberg’s “emergency meeting” on the proposed West Side stadium enabled him to skip a politically sticky event with the state Independence Party yesterday.

The mayor was scheduled to speak at a party fund-raising affair, but he canceled his appearance moments before he was to take the stage, to meet instead with the speaker of the state Assembly, Sheldon Silver, whose support he needs for approval on the stadium.

Mr. Bloomberg has come under increased criticism in recent weeks for accepting the Independence Party’s support because one of its leaders, Lenora Fulani, has refused to retreat from comments she made in 1989 that have been called anti-Semitic. As a result, virtually every appearance the mayor makes with the Independence Party is closely watched, to track his exchanges with Ms. Fulani.

Mr. Bloomberg’s staff denied that the mayor wanted to skip the Independence Party function. A spokesman for the mayor, Paul Elliott, said: “Jobs are more important than politics.”

In addition, the fund-raising event was not the only appointment the mayor canceled yesterday as a result of his down-to-the-wire discussions with Mr. Silver. Earlier in the day, Mr. Bloomberg also canceled a radio interview with KISS-FM .

On his way out of City Hall yesterday afternoon, Mr. Silver said they scheduled the later meeting because it was at a “convenient time.”

“We met this morning at an event we were both speaking at, we were at the parade together this morning, and we figured a convenient time when we’re both not doing something,” the speaker said.

Mr. Bloomberg, who with Mr. Silver spoke at the breakfast of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and marched in the Salute to Israel Parade, has condemned Ms. Fulani’s comments. He has said, however, that they do not represent the Independence Party.

Ms. Fulani said she understood why the mayor had to cancel and was not disappointed. She also said she was “honored” to have him as the Independence Party candidate and would be campaigning, particularly in minority communities, to get him votes.

“I’m very excited about working on his campaign and we’re going to get the biggest vote possible on Column C, that’s my job,” she said.

The Independence Party is considered by many to be crucial to Mr. Bloomberg’s re-election. In 2001, when he was a recent convert to the Republican Party, it provided him with his margin of victory against the Democratic nominee, Mark Green, who also had the Working Families Party line.