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Probing Brooklyn Dem boss

By NANCIE L. KATZ
July 17, 2003 - NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

The widening probe into judicial corruption in Brooklyn is now focusing on the county's Democratic boss and kingmaker, Assemblyman Clarence Norman, sources told the Daily News.

The Brooklyn district attorney's office wants to know more about a $130,000 credit card bill run up by Norman.

It also wants to know what happened to a $245,000 contribution made to Norman's political club in 2002 by then-mayoral candidate Mark Green, who failed to capture City Hall.

"The original investigation was to see if judgeships could be bought," said a law enforcement source. "You can't ignore this other stuff. It may be illegal."

Prosecutors believe Norman may have illegally bought personal items, including expensive suits, shoes and flowers, with a party credit card meant for official use only.

"They are going to get Clarence on his credit cards," predicted one source familiar with party financial records subpoenaed by Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes. "They're going into all of his credit cards with the Democratic Party. You can't use a credit card to buy your own clothes."

At the same time, Hynes is trying to determine whether any part of the whopping contribution made by Green's campaign was spent illegally.

Where did money go?

"He has to find out how [Green's] money was spent. Did it end up in Clarence's pocket?" said a source close to Hynes.

Yesterday, Hynes' office refused to discuss the probe.

Green declined comment yesterday, but a spokesman said the city's former public advocate has not been contacted by Hynes' office.

His contribution to Norman's Thurgood Marshall Democratic Club was revealed by The News last year.

Asked about the cash infusion at the time, Norman said he did not know his club had gotten that much money.

"If that [much] money came, I wasn't aware of it," he said. "It could have been $140,000."

He said his Thurgood Marshall club was merely a "conduit" that disbursed the Green payments to Democratic clubs in the borough for Green-related campaign work. The club also hired $8-an-hour street workers for the mayoral campaign in Brooklyn, he said.

However, only $12,100 was sent to other political clubs in Brooklyn, the Thurgood Marshall Democratic Club's disclosure report showed. The club also reported cashing $60,000 of the Green campaign's checks "to pay Election Day workers," but did not identify them.

The club used most of the rest of the money to pay several Norman confidants' consulting fees, including more than $90,000 to Jacqueline Ward, a trusted political confidant, who managed his first campaign for the Assembly.

Norman did not return repeated calls last night. But rebel Brooklyn district leaders who reviewed party financial records said they were not troubled by the American Express spending.

Also yesterday, new details emerged concerning allegations by Karen Yellen, a former Civil Court judge who said Norman and the party's executive director, Jeff Feldman, threatened to throw her off the ballot unless she used their favored consultants on her 2001 campaign.

In at least two meetings with Feldman before the November 2001 elections - at least one attended by Norman - Yellen was given an ultimatum, sources said. "Feldman told her, 'This is what we expect you to do. If you don't do it, you're off the ticket,'" a source at the meeting told The News.

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