A Money Tree Grows in Brooklyn
March 21, 2002

By Henry J. Stern

Today’s Daily News reveals, on Pages 1, 6 and 7, that Brooklyn Democratic leader Clarence Norman received $115,000 in alleged “loans” from the Kings County Democratic party that he headed.  The money was paid to Norman’s local political club.  The discovery came from campaign records; the county filed the expenditures, and the local club did not report most of the receipts.

    This important and valuable story, by Michael Blood and Joel Siegel, raises three questions:
 

1. If the story comes from available public records, why didn’t the City or State boards of elections, or other authorities, discover the disparities?

2. What effect does this behavior of a county leader, who has a principal role in the selection of Supreme Court justices at conventions and Civil Court judges in primaries, have on the integrity of the judiciary?

3. Will District Attorney Charles J. Hynes prosecute?

 
Henry J. Stern is the director of NYCivic.