GREEN FACING END OF THE ROAD How is Assemblyman Roger Green going to explain his way out of this one? The evidence is most damning: despite not owning a car or even possessing a driver's license, Green has for years sought and received reimbursement for automobile trips to Albany, the New York Post reported. He never even submitted Thruway receipts with his travel vouchers, investigators have discovered. If Green were indeed repaid by the state for thousands of dollars in travel expenses that he never incurred, he essentially stole thousands of dollars from taxpayers. Green's attorney, Gerald Shargel, is not denying that Green owns no car and never had more than a learner's permit for a brief time in 1993. Instead, Shargel is saying that the law does not require that Green needed a car and license to be reimbursed for automobile travel.

That's true, but the law does require that Green have a license to drive. And if someone else drove him, he'd need to show that he incurred the expenses for which he was reimbursed. That could be difficult, given that Green admitted he got free rides from a prison services company that lobbied for state contracts. (Green later denied it, but no one believed him.) Shargel isn't saying how Green incurred travel expenses, and Green isn't talking at all. We can assume that if there were a reasonable explanation, Green would have divulged it. The question now, it seems to us, is not whether Green will be able to keep his Assembly seat, but whether he will face criminal indictment.

By claiming that he made more than a hundred 300-mile round-trips between Brooklyn and Albany over the last three years, the Fort Greene/Prospect Heights assemblyman secured more than $10,000 tax-free from the state. How many years in prison would an unarmed bank robber get for stealing that amount? And by what logic should an assemblyman be treated more leniently? It seems to us that Shargel has his hands full. But the attorney is used to it. He's also representing Russell Harding, the former city housing official whose audacious expense account got him indicted on the very day another Shargel client, Peter Gotti, was convicted on mob charges. "Is hiring a high-profile attorney who seems to be in prosecutors' sights a good thing for Roger?" one source wondered.

Also poised to look bad are the members of the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus who stood up for Green last month. Certainly, Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver is glad he wasn't among those defending Green. "He's got to be made an example of now," another insider concluded. "Shelly's got to be ready to cut him loose."

DIBRIENZA MAKING ROUNDS Sightings of former City Councilman Steve DiBrienza at a couple of political gatherings (namely a March 20 Independent Neighborhood Democrats meeting and a March 23 COJO-Flatbush breakfast) begot the inevitable rumors of his next campaign. Namely, that he is finding the private sector less than fulfilling and is itching to return to his council seat, even if it means challenging the man who succeeded him, Bill deBlasio. "Ha! Ha! Ha!" was DiBrienza's response when we shared this with him.

But, for the sake of gossip, play along with us for a minute. What could DiBrienza gain by threatening to challenge deBlasio? How about a federal job arranged by Senator Hillary Clinton, whose campaign deBlasio managed?

As one source noted, the last thing deBlasio needs is a serious race, which could derail his chance to become council speaker in 2003, if Gifford Miller is indeed forced out by term limits then. Hence, an angle for DiBrienza. "A lot of people think he's pulling deBlasio's chain to get something out of deBlasio. Perhaps a job with Hillary," our source speculated.

That doesn't seem like DiBrienza's style, though. He's rather highly regarded and could probably land such a job simply by asking, rather than threatening. What he wants is to return to elected office as the boss, not as a staff member.

LIEBERMAN TO BE COUNTY'S PICK? Word in political circles is that presidential candidate Joe Lieberman is likely to be supported by the Brooklyn Democratic organization for his party's nomination. That shouldn't surprise anyone, given that Lieberman is Jewish and Brooklyn has more Jews than any county in the nation, one source observed.

On the other hand, perhaps Brooklyn's sizeable black community will pressure Assemblyman Clarence Norman to back the Rev. Al Sharpton, a Brooklyn resident and Tilden High School graduate, even though Sharpton has no shot at the nomination. If that happens, expect Norman to say "no" as politely as possible.

NADLER SLAMS KRUGER Award ceremonies typically produce lots of politicians and very little excitement. But Rep. Jerry Nadler is not your typical politician. So when he heard State Senator Carl Kruger bombastically blast City Council Speaker Gifford Miller for allowing a vote on a resolution opposing war in Iraq, Nadler lit into Kruger. "He said [Kruger] is wrong, that 'this is America' and 'we all have a right to have different opinions. This is our right as elected officials,'" a witness recalled.

"Nadler started getting worked up. He started talking faster and louder," the witness added. The room fell silent. About 150 people at the Jewish War Veterans ceremony in Sheepshead Bay couldn't believe their ears. One vet started giving the cut-throat sign, as in, "Somebody stop him!"

Fortunately, Nadler was allowed to finish. Unfortunately, Kruger had already departed (for another photo-op, no doubt), so the fireworks ended there.

But the buzz continued. Especially amused were the other pols in attendance. "Wow, this is a sizzler!" Borough President Marty Markowitz chuckled. "These (events) are usually sleepers!" City Councilman Mike Nelson, a Kruger ally, followed Nadler to the podium. "They're selling tickets for the Nadler-Kruger boxing match in the hallway," he deadpanned.

Councilman Domenic Recchia, not a Kruger ally, felt compelled to defend Miller's name, assuring the crowd that the speaker is doing a fine job (in particular by redrawing Recchia's district to the councilman's liking, though Recchia of course didn't mention that). Recchia then challenged Kruger to a cage match, with the survivor to inherit the other's seat. Well, not really.

KRUGER CASHES IN Aside from the aforementioned verbal jab from Rep. Jerry Nadler, it wasn't a bad week for State Senator Carl Kruger. He got to tell his constituents about the $500,000 in discretionary money he was given to dole out to 70 community groups. "Through difficult negotiations in Albany, I was able to secure the funds that these recipients so desperately need," Kruger wrote in a mass taxpayer-funded mailing.

Translation: Kruger reaped the final installment of his reward for crossing party lines to endorse Governor George Pataki for reelection last fall. Perhaps he also got a few bucks from the new Senate minority leader whom Kruger backed in the coup that ousted Marty Connor. Unfortunately, that is the way Albany works. You trade political favors for cash.

Needless to say, Kruger wasted no time publicizing his largesse. His four-page mailing was replete with praise for the senator from the beneficiaries. But not everyone in Kruger's district was impressed. "If you read the glowing testimonials by the recipients of this bribe money, you would think that single-handedly our great senator in Albany passed the legislation to bring help to these deserving and needy organizations," one disgruntled Sheepshead Bay resident e-mailed us. Indeed, legislators are usually a bit more modest in their constituent mail. Kruger's looked more like a campaign piece, with a huge "Thanks Senator Kruger" over a photo of community leaders holding oversized checks.

DAVIS TELLS SPEAKER TO SHUT UP It doesn't appear that City Councilman James Davis will miss many opportunities to slam Speaker Gifford Miller since the latter shuffled Davis's committee assignments as punishment for voting against the property tax increase.

First, there were Davis's comparisons of Miller to a mob godfather. Then there was the threatened lawsuit (which hasn't been filed, to our knowledge). And now Davis is attacking Miller for appealing the judge's decision that limits council members to two full terms, even if one of those terms is two years. Miller and the council had amended the term limits law to allow members to stay in office at least eight years if they were reelected. But the judge nixed it in a decision that would force Miller (not to mention Brooklyn's Tracy Boyland) to leave office on December 31.

The decision, if upheld on appeal, would also limit Vinny Gentile's stay in the council to six years, not including the rest of 2003. "During these times of economic hardships and the city's own fiscal crisis, it would appear selfish to use the taxpayers' money to pursue a frivolous appeal," Davis wrote to the speaker in a letter faxed to reporters.

BITTER ABOUT LITTER It's a shame that the punishment for littering is handed out not to the perpetrators but to the victims. The reason is simple: it's easier to catch the victims. Merchants used to complain of sanitation enforcement agents following a napkin as it blew down a sidewalk and writing a ticket for each store it passed. That was an exaggeration, but you get the idea. Business owners felt they were being picked on because they were easy targets and the city wanted revenue, not because their storefronts were particularly dirty.

Now, apparently, the Department of Sanitation is branching out. Homeowners are being ticketed as well, according to City Councilman Simcha Felder. "If you're a homeowner they can come ticket you any time of the day. Literally. Which means there's no relief," said Felder, whose district has been a particular focus of summons writers. Felder has introduced a bill that would at least put homeowners on the same footing as store owners, who can only be ticketed during the predetermined two-hour window when agents might pass by.

But ideally, the councilman said, there would be a change in emphasis by the city, though he understands that police aren't going to follow people around looking for litterbugs. "Let's go after the bad guys," said Felder, "not an old lady who has a gum wrapper in front of her house."

EX-MILLMAN AIDE STAYING PUT Onetime political hopeful Greg Atkins, former chief of staff for Assemblywoman Joan Millman, was surprised to hear rumors that he's angling to run for Marty Connor's State Senate seat if Connor steps down, which now appears unlikely. "That's news to me," said Atkins, the new president of Independent Neighborhood Democrats, the Carroll Gardens-based club.

Atkins also recently got engaged. Running for office is not a priority at the moment, he said. Atkins, who now works in the private sector, previously expressed interest in being the male Democratic leader in Millman's brownstone district, and a year earlier, in running for the council seat eventually won by Bill deBlasio.

Borough Politics Archive

2002
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2002
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2001
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2000
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1999
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