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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