NORMAN ROAMS TO BUFFALO It must be tough to be Assemblyman Clarence Norman, the Brooklyn Democratic leader. Even his getting engaged is spun by his enemies into something political and possibly criminal. Their first conclusion was that Norman popped the question to Vernice Williams so the jury in his looming extortion trial would see a wife supporting him, increasing the chances of an acquittal. "It's sort of strange," one source said of the timing of the engagement. "He's dated her for 15 years." (Norman's spokesman put it at "several years.") It gets worse.

The New York Post reported that investigators (unnamed, but presumably unleased by Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes) leapt to the wild conclusion that $4,000 in Buffalo-area charges on the Brooklyn Democratic Party American Express card stemmed from his courtship of Williams, who lives in Buffalo. Norman's people say he was there "networking" with Democrats. On 18 different occasions. And staying for as long as five days. During Christmas week.

No doubt Hynes is checking to see how much "networking" Norman did in upstate towns where he did not have girlfriends. Perhaps Christmas in Watertown is still on Norman's to-do list. But wait-it gets worse still.

Williams, the fiancée, was hired in September 1999 by Attorney General Elliot Spitzer-who had been endorsed in 1998 by Norman and had hired other Norman pals, notably Carl Andrews, now a state senator. Williams, 36, was named a "deputy director of intergovernmental affairs" (a classic patronage job) for $72,000 a year, about twice the salary of the person she replaced, the Post reported. At the time she was a 32-year-old with a pedestrian résumé and no college degree. Yet Norman and Spitzer maintain her hiring had nothing to do with her being Norman's girlfriend. With straight-faced assertions like that, who needs syrup of ipecac?

NO-WIN FOR TISH JAMES A constituent of Councilwoman Tish James suggested we write about the tension that's grown between her and the Working Families Party, on whose line she was elected in Fort Greene, Prospect Heights, and Crown Heights. The constituent noted the party's displeasure at the minimal input James gave it in the hiring of her staff, and her absolute opposition to Bruce Ratner's arena and housing plan, which would mean lots of union construction jobs-unions being a pillar of the Working Families Party. James also finds her on the opposite side of the arena fight from Assemblyman Roger Green, who helped elect her.

If nothing else, James is disproving the accusations thrown at her during the campaign that, if elected, she would have to pay back Green and the Working Families Party rather than independently represent her constituents. That's a charge her critics would certainly have repeated had James lined up with Green behind the arena project and filled her staff with Working Families Party pals. Instead, they're saying she's taking too absolute a position against Ratner's project, jeopardizing her bargaining position and hindering development that would benefit her district and Brooklyn as a whole.

CORRECTION We erred in reporting that Civil Court Judges Wayne Saitta, Donald Kurtz, and Loren Baily-Schiffman might have broken the rules on judicial politicking by attending the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club holiday party. We had inquired previously with the Office of Court Administration to ask if judges were allowed to attend political functions before the race for next year's Supreme Court seats formally begins in January. OCA was too busy to help, but after our item ran, Judge Kurtz contacted OCA-which then found the time to look up the rule. And the rule is this: candidates not nominated for Supreme Court at the annual judicial convention can attend political functions for six months afterward. Of course, the six-month post-convention window runs into the nine-month pre-convention window of the following year. So we have, in fact, year-round politicking by Supreme Court candidates.

CHUCK BLASTS SMOKING BAN Brooklyn's own Chuck Schumer, who as U.S. Senator now tries to appeal to constituents upstate as well, criticized New York's smoking ban during a recent visit to Madison County, saying he opposed the law from its inception, the Oneida Dispatch reported. "I couldn't believe the state passed it," said Schumer. "The original law that New York had wasn't bad with the requirement of separate seating. This law just came out of Albany like a bat out of hell. There might be some ways to amend it, I hope." Schumer's statement shocked one smoking-ban advocate.

"He actually said that?" said the advocate, perplexed that Schumer's statement ignored the purpose of the law, which is to protect employees from second-hand smoke. Schumer's successor in the House, Rep. Anthony Weiner, has also been known to take a pot shot at anti-smoking laws. He once suggested people unhappy with Mayor Mike Bloomberg's ban on smoking in city workplaces take revenge by voting against the mayor's plan for non-partisan elections.

HAPPY FACE FOR GENTILE Last week's City Council committee shuffling left only six of 51 councilmembers without a lulu (a committee or subcommittee chairmanship that comes with a salary bonus). One of the unlucky six was Vinny Gentile, though you'd never have known it from the cheery press release he issued. "Key Committee Assignments Perfect Fit for 43rd District's Needs," the release was headlined. Talk about spin. The other Brooklyn councilmember without a lulu is Tish James. She and Gentile are Brooklyn's junior councilmembers.

Beneficiaries of Speaker Gifford Miller's largesse were three councilmen whose subcommittees became full committees: Kendall Stewart (immigration), David Yassky (waterfronts), and Domenic Recchia (small business). Sara Gonzalez inherited the juvenile justice subcommittee chair from the late James Davis, and Diana Reyna will head a new subcommittee on public housing. New Brooklyn delegation co-chairmen Bill deblasio and Al Vann took some credit for the borough's gains, who had told Miller that Brooklyn was underrepresented. Jimmy Oddo, the council's minority leader, is Brooklyn's top-paid councilmember at $108,000 per year, followed by Tracy Boyland (the women's issues chairwoman) at $105,000. Earning an even $100,000 are deBlasio (general welfare), Yvette Clarke (fire and criminal justice), Charles Barron (higher education), Recchia, Yassky, and Stewart. Just behind is Lew Fidler (youth services) at $98,250. Subcommittee heads Mike Nelson ($100,000), Simcha Felder ($98,000), and Gonzalez ($94,000), and select committee chairman Vann ($94,000) all out-earn Gentile and James, who draw the base salary of $90,000.

FELDER'S FOLLY: Councilman Simcha Felder is an amateur saxophonist, which might explain his blowing his own horn in a press release about his second inauguration. "Candidates Court Felder" was the headline of the release, which suggested the mayor and four of his potential opponents attended the event to grovel for Felder's endorsement in 2005. The release noted that Felder received a "standing ovation" upon entering and later received "an outburst of cheers from the audience" of nearly 500 people. It said no fewer than nine speakers lauded him before his own 12-minute address. Felder is a likeable fellow who comes across in person as modest, and his press release was rather humorous, so perhaps he will forgive our curmudgeonly analysis: Let's assume his second-term inauguration cost every attendee an hour of their time. Extrapolating, we get 25,500 man-hours wasted at inaugurations for 51 councilmembers. Would people's time not be better spent clearing storm drains or removing plastic bags stuck in street trees? Just a thought.

REZONING GRIPES Urban planner Tom Angotti, writing for GothamGazette.com, on the rezoning plan to bring more business to downtown Brooklyn: "Traffic is one of the biggest gripes of Brooklynites, and downtown Brooklyn is already a congestion and pollution nightmare. It is both a destination and a thoroughfare for access to the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. The plan will only make things worse by expanding parking, which will encourage more people to drive there." That makes more sense than Angotti's warning that "it remains to be seen whether this amount of commercial space will be needed in the long run with the continuing trend of gradual movement to the suburbs." So the city should do nothing and let that trend continue? News flash: when jobs move to the suburbs, people follow.

GOLDEN KNOCKS BOOK: State Senator Marty Golden tried without success to remove one book from a list of 120 suggested by the state Department of Education for English as a Second Language classes. The Bay Ridge Republican objected to "This Is My House," which depicts homes around the world, because one of the three American houses depicted is a car parked next to a boarded-up, graffiti-covered apartment house, a vacant lot, and an old tire. Living in the car are a mother and two kids. "My family is staying in our car. We will move into a house when we can," the book reads. In a letter to the state education commissioner, Golden asked, "Is this the presentation of American urban life that we wish to present to our young children?" The other two American homes depicted are more traditional.

While it's true that far less than a third of American families are homeless, it's also true that many are poor and some indeed live in cars. Rather than hide that from children, perhaps politicians could do more to help those destitute families-at least until President Bush's tax cuts for the rich trickle down to them. Incidentally, another page in "This Is My House" showed Turks living in a cave and Saudis living in tents. No word yet on whether officials from Turkey or Saudi Arabia have joined Golden's protest.

POLITICAL TIDBITS While leading General Wesley Clark's wife Gertrude on a tour of the section of Park Slope where she grew up, Rep. Anthony Weiner, also from the neighborhood, kidded about the effect of his efforts for Clark. "They've gone up every day in the polls since I endorsed. They're calling it the Weiner Bump," Weiner joked. At least, we think he was joking. During the tour, he made sure Clark stopped at the front of her old apartment building so she could be photographed underneath the address. When we complimented him on his PR savvy, he said, "It's my only marketable skill." Well, he certainly picked the right line of work…

Governor Pataki just proposed to help fund city schools by enticing poor New Yorkers to lose money on video lottery machines, which are slot machines that take debit cards. That's something to think about next time you encounter Brooklyn Democrats who endorsed the governor, including State Senator Carl Kruger, Assemblyman Dov Hikind, Councilman Kendall Stewart, and Democratic district leader Mike Geller of Sheepshead Bay. Even Pataki's fellow Republican, State Senator Frank Padavan, promptly panned the video gambling idea as "absurd and cruel."

Sheepshead Bay attorney Alan Rocoff has surfaced as a spokesman for embattled Supreme Court Judge Michael Garson, whose travails have been extensively documented in the press. When the Daily News reported on January 21 that the State Commission on Judicial Conduct was probing Garson for allegedly looting his elderly aunt's estate, it was Rocoff who answered for Judge Garson. "He is going to cooperate fully," Rocoff said. "He has no secrets here." Well, not anymore…

Assemblyman Dov Hikind endorsed Senator Chuck Schumer for reelection, embracing the man he rejected in favor of Al D'Amato in 1998. Schumer's people are cheering Hikind's reversal, but the assemblyman really had little choice-Schumer has no challenger as yet, and whoever it is will be a token opponent …

Assemblyman Felix Ortiz is continuing his fight against childhood obesity. He scheduled a January 26 press conference in Albany to ask that the state fund training and education to promote breastfeeding and other obesity-prevention strategies. Breastfed babies are less likely to be obese later on, Ortiz reported. Two years ago, Ortiz proposed an extra sales tax on junk food. The idea wasn't bad, but he was ridiculed by the New York tabloids…

Rep. Nydia Velazquez is asking that Poland be exempted from the US-VISIT program, which requires most foreign visitors to have their index fingers scanned and a photograph taken upon entry into the U.S. to determine if they are suspected criminals or terrorists. Velazquez has over 31,000 constituents of Polish descent in her district. In fact, the congresswoman believes the entire fingerprinting program should be eliminated because of "its enormous costs, minimum effectiveness in combating terrorism, and damage it causes to international relationships." The program "is expected to cost at least $7 billion over the next 10 years, and is designed to work with other security programs that have proven to be inadequate," her release stated...

Movie actor Ed Norton, interviewed at a Lakers-Clippers game, said he was excited about the Brooklyn Nets…

Inna Stavitsky, who garnered 8 percent of the vote in the 2001 Democratic primary won by Councilman Domenic Recchia, is a finalist for the job of Community Board 15 district manager…

State Senator Carl Kruger was seen at a Manhattan fundraiser for potential mayoral candidate Freddy Ferrer, fueling speculation that Kruger is building contacts to run for public advocate in 2005. "He's working at making friends all over," said one observer. "If he wasn't interested in running citywide, why was he at Freddy Ferrer's fundraiser?" Some people were surprised at Kruger's show of support for Ferrer. Apparently they forgot that Kruger endorsed him in the 2001 mayoral runoff against Mark Green. "Carl was one of very few whom Freddy mentioned in his speech, saying that he was so happy to see him that he hugged him," one source claimed.

Contact Brooklyn Politics at (718) 399-3693.

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