Norman, Feldman May Hear Tonight
Brooklyn Democratic party leader Clarence Norman and Jeffrey Feldman, the
organization's executive director, have been alerted that they may have to
surrender to investigators late tonight if they are indicted by a grand
jury, sources familiar with the investigation said.
Once A Rebel, Now A Target
By Ron Howell
STAFF WRITER; Staff writer Graham Rayman contributed to this story.
October 9, 2003
Twenty years ago, Clarence Norman Jr. was part of a group of black rebels
banging on the door of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, seeking to reform an
organization viewed as corrupt and unresponsive to blacks. Today, some
analysts say, Norman has come full circle.
After 13 years at the party's helm - the first black to be in that position
- Norman could be indicted today on charges he misused an expense account
under his control. The charges surfaced after allegations of political
corruption.
"It's almost a Shakespearean tragedy," said J. Phillip Thompson, associate
professor of urban studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
author of "Double Talk," a forthcoming book about black politics in New York
City. "Clarence Norman started out agitating against exactly the kind of
things he's being accused of. He mounted fierce attacks on the Brooklyn
organization for the very cronyism he's being accused of now."
While Norman has developed strong ties to other ethnic groups over the past
decade, his story is also about the rise and fall of the black empowerment
movement that once aspired to bring new ideals to Brooklyn politics.
"Clarence's rise as a county leader obviously put a dent in some of the
black empowerment politics that I hold so dear," said Esmeralda Simmons,
director of the Center for Law and Social Justice based at Medgar Evers
College in Crown Heights.
Even so, Simmons, like other blacks trying to be gentle with Norman in his
moment of trial, refused to criticize him further. She said she believes he
is being "scapegoated" by the media and Brooklyn prosecutors. Simmons
recalled better times, when she and Norman, a graduate of St. John's Law
School, first ventured into politics in the 1970s.
Those were heady days. Dashiki-wearing Al Vann was elected to the Assembly
in 1974, followed six years later by Roger Green, who beat a machine-backed
incumbent assemblyman after three bruising runoffs.
Norman, inspired by Vann and Green, set his sights on a newly created
assembly seat in Crown Heights. He won that race but all through the 1980s
he fought with Hasidic Jews who felt threatened by the new manifestations of
black power in Brooklyn.
In 1985, Norman and other blacks made a big leap for clout. Under the banner
of the Coalition for Community Empowerment, they tried to forge a city-wide
alliance with Puerto Ricans, hoping to replace Brooklyn Borough President
Howard Golden with Vann.
The effort failed, and the dream of black power faded over the next several
years.
But Norman's big chance came in 1989 when, in a political reform, the City
Charter was changed to bar borough presidents from also holding the position
of Democratic Party leader.
Smooth-talking, quick witted and amiable, Norman stepped willingly into the
breach, offering himself as the person able to please increasingly diverse
factions on the Brooklyn political scene.
Though once allied with activists who put a priority on pleasing black
residents, Norman began to branch out, doing political favors for all the
major ethnic groups in the local political fold.
But some critics say Norman was soon playing fast and loose, doling out
court-appointed receiverships to such buddies as Sen. Carl Andrews, drawing
a hefty income from a politically connected law firm, and steering campaign
payments from judicial candidates to favored consultants.
Cynicism grew as opponents saw the First Baptist Church of Crown Heights,
pastored by Norman's father, Clarence Norman Sr., grow in membership and
political influence. As stories multiplied over the past year of Brooklyn
judges allegedly cutting deals with lawyers, even some party regulars began
to criticize Norman's leadership.
"He's gone along with these incompetent people, and it's crazy," said
William Thompson, retired Appellate Division judge and father of city
Comptroller William Thompson Jr. The retired judge said Norman has stacked
Brooklyn's judicial screening committee with "good old boys" and he "should
be removed as county leader."
One Brooklyn political analyst said the borough has in recent years become a
place of too many competing interests, too many vying ethnic groups, for a
traditional Democratic leader like Norman to control. Jerome Krase, who
lives in Park Slope and is co-author of "Ethnicity and Machine Politics,"
said too many Brooklyn residents have become embarrassed at the overt
horse-trading that was Norman's way of conducting political business.
"You've had the growth of these gentrification groups, yuppies,
independents, Lambda [gay] Democratics," Krase said. "There's a new mix in
politics, and the old ways of doing things are less effective."
Staff writer Graham Rayman contributed to this story.
Bro. Germaine G. Verdier
Chairman
http://www.vhi-sweden.org
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