NOOSE TIGHTENS AROUND ROGER GREEN A month after the New York Post broke the Albany lobbying scandal, Assemblyman Roger Green has begun addressing the issue before audiences and reporters-and may only be making things worse. Green is now denying that he accepted free rides from Correctional Services Corporation (CSC), and denying that he admitted as much to New York Post political columnist Fred Dicker. But Dicker told us it is Green who is lying. "The Post stands by its story. What Roger Green is quoted as saying is exactly what he said," Dicker said.

The quote, published January 15, was, "There were times that I had transportation. I did get transportation from Correctional Services." Dicker's story also paraphrased Green saying he'd gotten the free rides for several years. The columnist told us he had a long conversation with Green about the free rides, which Green repeatedly acknowledged receiving.

Dicker noted that if Green thought Dicker's story erroneous, the assemblyman would likely have called to complain. "To this day I have not heard one word from him that it was wrong," Dicker said. Could it be that Green doesn't consider the rides "free" since (according to the Daily News) he claims to have paid for gas and tolls? No one would take that seriously, because Green did not pay his chauffeur, a Correctional Services employee named Jorge Avila-Parks who picked Green up from his home many mornings, according to federal investigators and The New York Times. Nor did Green pay for the car itself, a leased gray Plymouth Voyager provided for his personal use by the company, the Times reported.

The feds also found that the company gave Green a public relations aide, campaign workers, a cell phone, and free meals-in total, perks worth as much as $2,000 per month. Green told the Post that the company's gifts did not influence his actions, which included asking state officials to award contracts to Correctional Services.

Even if true, Green still might have violated state ethics law, which forbids legislators from accepting gifts worth $75 or more if they are intended to influence decisions. Does Green expect us to believe the company liked him for his good looks, and not the tens of millions of dollars' worth of state contracts he helped it win? It all adds up to more than just bad press. People are now questioning whether this could cost Green the Assembly seat he's held for 22 years. Green began his self-defense at an invitation-only meeting of his Democratic club on February 6, when he denied wrongdoing and complained that investigators were devoting so much attention to the activities of a company that primarily lobbied minority legislators. His insinuation was that others might be guilty of a lot worse, but investigators don't care because they're white.

Perhaps he's forgotten all the white power brokers investigated or indicted over the years, including Bronx and Queens Democratic bosses Stanley Friedman and Donald Manes, Rep. Mario Biaggi, the Abscam congressmen, Assembly Speaker Mel Miller (whose conviction was overturned), Assemblyman Dov Hikind (who was acquitted), Councilman Sheldon Leffler, Russell Harding, Judge Victor Barron, State Senator Guy Velella, and Corrections Chief Anthony Serra, to name a few. "Did any of them say it was a white, racist ploy?" one observer asked. "You can't use the race card (only) when it's convenient."

But Green isn't alone in his opinion. Democratic activist Chris Owens, who heard Green's remarks at the private gathering but declined to repeat them to us, said, "I'm no fan of CSC, but I do believe in fair play and treating everyone equally." He added, "It is really interesting how the Post or any paper focuses on one corporation or once instance. It would be a lot more compelling to me if they focused on all the corporations who did business with the state. I see only the one that happens to have a lot of connections to black and Latino legislators." Assemblymen Nick Perry and Darryl Towns made similar comments over Presidents' Day weekend. Perry even called media coverage of the scandal "journalistic terrorism."

But CSC wasn't picked at random. Its activities were divulged by corrupt former Assemblywoman Gloria Davis as part of her plea agreement. Were investigators and reporters supposed to probe thousands of other corporations so as not to single out the company implicated by Davis? Besides, did Perry allege "journalistic terrorism" when The New York Times did a lengthy piece on Governor Pataki's campaign contributors?

Green continued his defense at the annual dinner of the Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus, which he chairs. That was when he told a Times reporter that he did not accept free transportation from CSC, and that he never told the Post any such thing. Three days later the name of Green's personal driver from CSC was on the front page of the Times, along with lots of other specific information about favors from the company. Suffice it to say, Green still has a lot of explaining to do.

DAVIS FROZEN OUT There was another bit of fallout from the Democratic club meeting at which Roger Green spoke. The assemblyman's ally, female Democratic district leader Freddie Hamilton, declined to invite her new co-leader, City Councilman James Davis, who'd attended the previous meeting of Hamilton's Partners for Progress Democratic Club. "I was looking forward to being partners with Freddie Hamilton, but I guess Partners for Progress didn't include me," said Davis, who promptly vowed to start his own club in the 57th Assembly District (Fort Greene, Prospect Heights).

He said his club would work with Hamilton's rather than rival it. Still undetermined is what Davis will name his club. We hear the James E. Davis Democratic Club is under consideration.

Davis also learned that City Council Speaker Gifford Miller moved him from the Cultural Affairs Committee to Oversight and Investigations as punishment for voting against the property tax increase. Though upset at the move, because his district includes several cultural institutions, Davis kept a sense of humor about it. "The first investigation I'm going to call for is why I was taken off the Cultural Affairs Committee and placed on the Oversight and Investigations Committee," he said.

ALL EYES ON OWENS When you're a 66-year-old congressman and not particularly powerful in Washington, people begin wondering when you're going to quit. And so it is with Rep. Major Owens, whose seat would be coveted by any number of politicians were he not to seek reelection in 2004, 2006, etc.

So State Senator John Sampson and Assemblyman Nick Perry probably raised few eyebrows by telling Crain's Insider that they'll likely run when Owens retires. Perry, in fact, has already started raising money. They'd hardly be the only candidates. Major's son Chris Owens, another likely candidate, would have the head-start of his father's endorsement and familiar last name.

Former Councilman Steve DiBrienza is eying the race as well and would be formidable in the white end of the district, which could provide a winning margin if other candidates split the minority vote. We could also expect to hear from former Councilwoman Una Clarke, who lost the Democratic primary to Owens in 2000 and remains a bitter enemy. A sitting councilmember, like James Davis, would have the advantage of being able to run without resigning his council seat, unlike the state legislators.

PARKER BUTTS IN The system that passes for democracy in Albany, which is so embarrassingly undemocratic that legislators have long resisted televising government proceedings (lest anyone see them in inaction), is certainly overdue for a shakeup.

Kevin Parker, the new Democratic senator representing East Flatbush, Flatbush, and Borough Park, is attempting to get things started. He began by questioning a Pataki Public Service Commission nominee at a committee hearing that was expected to be a five-minute formality, but turned into 40 minutes of give-and-take. "Congratulations," the committee's Republican chairman cracked to Parker. "You have just made this the longest committee meeting we've had."

The episode was prominently featured on the editorial page of The New York Times. How sad that simply questioning a nominee could generate such a reaction. But that's Albany, where government functions are reminiscent of Joe Stalin's show trials. Sometimes procedure is abandoned altogether, such as with the governor's anti-terrorism legislation, for which public hearings will only be held after the vote, if at all.

Parker, as a member of the Senate's minority party, can afford to pull back the curtains on Albany's puppeteers because he has nothing to lose. But the same can be said for other Brooklyn Democrats who for years have called little attention to Albany's failings, so Parker deserves some credit. Parker may too fall in line after a couple years of futility, but at the moment he's peeking out of the trench where his colleagues hide and feed. "My constituents sent me up there to be involved," Parker told us after questioning the Public Service Commission nominee, "to make sure we can get the best energy rates we can."

But Parker stopped short of asking the nominee, William Flynn, why as an aide to former Attorney General Dennis Vacco he helped Kennedy Valve Company get away with a slap on the wrist following the gruesome workplace 1995 death of a company employee. Parker said he didn't think it relevant. We disagree. The issue goes to Flynn's moral fiber, an important characteristic for Public Service Commission nominees. Besides, the public deserves an explanation from Flynn, and now will likely never get one.

Parker did partially redeem himself by later voting against the anti-terrorism bill, which was rushed through with little discussion and no public hearing, perhaps because its fine print allows serious erosions of civil liberties (such as warrant-less police searches). "Any time we start fiddling around and striking parts of the Constitution, I get a ticklish feeling in my stomach," Parker told the Times.

MRS. SCHUMER'S BIG CAR The Daily News reported that while U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer has criticized sport-utility vehicles, his wife Iris Weinshall continues to drive one. Even worse, it's not her personal car, but her city vehicle. Weinshall is the transportation commissioner. Almost a year ago we wrote about City Comptroller Billy Thompson's SUV, a 2002 Chevy Tahoe, prompting one reader to report seeing Weinshall descending from an SUV near her family's Park Slope apartment. Apparently she's still driving it.

According to the News, the Department of Transportation is cutting its fleet of gas-guzzling SUVs and buying new hybrid vehicles, which use gas and electricity and get four times more miles per gallon than SUVs. Here's hoping Weinshall leads by example and trades in her Ford Explorer, one of nearly 1,500 SUVs owned by the city.

EX-CANDIDATE IN UNLIKELY ROLE Former City Council candidate Errol Louis, who lost to Mary Pinkett as a Democrat and Green Party candidate in 1997, has surfaced as an associate editor at the New York Sun. It's an odd pairing, given Louis's left-leaning politics and the Sun's far-right conservatism. But Louis says the arrangement mirrors that of the liberal The New York Times editorial page employing conservative columnist William Safire.

It's a tad ironic that the Sun is imitating the Old Gray Lady (now in color), given that Sun co-founder Ira Stoll of Brooklyn Heights is a recovering compulsive critic of the Times. Before starting the city's fourth major newspaper, Stoll wrote a daily pillory of the Times, mercilessly bashing its liberalism and its journalism. Louis, though, may be more journalist than leftist. He was a reporter before he was a political candidate. Years ago he worked for the now-defunct City Sun, the black paper run by the late Andy Cooper of Park Slope.

Louis, 40, of Crown Heights, got enough votes against Pinkett in 1997 for Assemblyman Clarence Norman to dangle a job before him to keep him out of the council race in 2001, when Norman's county organization was backing Tish James for the seat. The offer was for an assistant commissioner's post in Mayor Alan Hevesi's administration, which never came close to existing, as Hevesi barely eclipsed the write-in candidates in the four-man Democratic primary. Louis wisely declined the offer (for ethical reasons, we assume) but then decided not to run anyway, in part to avoid splitting the vote with other black liberals. He instead backed Pete Williams, who lost the primary to James Davis (as did Tish James).

Louis ended up at the Sun thanks to a long friendship with its other co-founder, Brooklyn Heights resident Seth Lipsky, who 20 years ago had helped Louis get a summer job. He writes three opinion columns per week as well as straight news stories while attending Brooklyn Law School at night. His background in local politics gives him a good perspective to cover stories such as the Correctional Services Corporation lobbying scandal, which involves former School Board 13 President Franklin Chris Jackson and Assemblyman Roger Green.

"It was an established fact in Brooklyn for years that Chris Jackson and a van full of people from a prison company, meaning CSC, were a freelance political organization that were available for rent," Louis said. "I don't know of any election from the Dinkins campaign forward that Chris Jackson and/or this prison company were not involved in actively." That includes his own race in '97, when Jackson worked on Pinkett's behalf.

BRIGHTON BEACH SPLIT The division of Brighton Beach into two council districts was essentially completed when Councilman Jim Oddo's three Districting Commission appointees joined the five of Speaker Gifford Miller to outvote the mayor's seven commission members this month. Public hearings and a vote by the full council lie ahead, but they are formalities. The split moves thousands of Russians from Domenic Recchia's district into Mike Nelson's, ensuring that Recchia won't lose to a Russian candidate this decade.

Recchia, it is widely assumed, arranged for the new lines, but he can't admit that because it would further rile up the Russians he's trying to unite with other constituencies in his district. Recchia believes that once the Russians, other Jews, Coney Island blacks, and Bensonhurst Italians in his district are united, they can accomplish great things. Reelecting Recchia, for one.

The Russians, of course, have a different idea of unity. They want to be in the same district to enhance their chances of electing one of their own. That might well enhance the political power of Russians, but perhaps at the expense of the district's blacks and Italians, who don't figure to rally around, for example, Oleg Gutnick, the Republican doctor who lost to Recchia in 2001.

Borough Politics Archive

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