The New York Times
June 2, 2004
Brooklyn Assemblyman Quits After Admitting False Billing
Michael Cooper
ALBANY, June 1 - Assemblyman Roger L. Green, a Brooklyn Democrat who pleaded
guilty in February to billing the state for false travel expenses, resigned
on Tuesday, but said he is "prepared to seek re-election" in November.
Mr. Green, a veteran of more than two decades in the Assembly, quit after
the Assembly's ethics committee issued a secret report recommending sanctions
against him and after the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, asked him to
step down.
"I advised him that the committee had deliberated and that would be the best
resolution," Mr. Silver told reporters on Tuesday evening.
But in his resignation letter to Mr. Silver, Mr. Green made it clear that he is resigning only "for the remainder of this term."
"While I stand prepared to seek re-election to the New York State Assembly,
I strongly believe that my resignation will enable me to reconnect with my
constituents and those core values that I have always upheld as a public
servant," he wrote.
It was unclear Tuesday night how his decision to resign under an ethical
cloud would affect his re-election chances. He got a strong expression of
support from City Councilwoman Letitia James, who used to work for him, and
said in an interview that she would "work tirelessly this summer to ensure
his re-election."
Other supporters said in interviews that they
were taken aback by news of his resignation. One potential rival, Eric Adams,
a police lieutenant who is a founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who
Care, said he is considering running for the seat.
Mr. Green pleaded guilty in February to submitting false travel expenses
to the Assembly and claiming reimbursement from taxpayers for trips between
his home in Brooklyn and Albany that he did not pay for. He admitted he was
getting free rides from a prison-services company seeking state contracts.
When Mr. Green pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in February, he did
so in the hope that the move would allow him to keep his job as an assemblyman.
The state's Public Officers Law says officials convicted of felonies must
be removed from office. But some experts said he might have to resign anyway
because the law also calls for removing any official who commits "a crime
involving a violation of his oath of office."
Mr. Green has been quietly laying the groundwork for a re-election campaign.
Last month he held a fund-raiser at a restaurant in downtown Albany, which,
scandal notwithstanding, attracted a smattering of lobbyists and Patrick
J. Lynch, the president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, New York
City's largest police union.
His resignation is the latest in a series of scandals in Albany. State Senator
Guy J. Velella, a Bronx Republican, resigned last month after pleading guilty
to a felony on bribery-related charges. James McGowan, a former labor commissioner
in the Pataki administration, was convicted last week of funneling state
grant money to a friend in exchange for cash and the promise of a job.
And the decision as to whether Mr. Green will win back the support of the
Brooklyn Democratic Party will fall to Assemblyman Clarence Norman Jr., its
leader, who was accused in an indictment of trying to pressure judicial candidates
into hiring consultants favored by the party.
© 2004, The New York Times Company