Ex-Aide Testifies Against Norman
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A longtime Democratic operative in Brooklyn, Jeffrey Feldman, took the witness stand yesterday and testified against his former boss, Clarence Norman, Jr.
Mr. Feldman testified on behalf of prosecutors who are seeking to prove that Norman, who served 12 terms in the Assembly and formerly headed the Democratic organization in Brooklyn, forced two judicial candidates into parceling out their campaign funds to favored political consultants and printers.
The campaigns in question were for relatively minor judicial vacancies in 2002. Yet every detail of those campaigns are being intensely scrutinized in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn. Among the courtroom evidence has been campaign handbills and fliers and other items of election paraphernalia.
Mr. Feldman’s testimony focused on the decision-making role that Norman played in the campaigns of the two candidates, Marcia Sikowitz and Karen Yellen, who were running for civil judgeships.
One of Norman’s demands was that both candidates pool resources for a joint campaign, Mr. Feldman testified. Such a campaign allowed candidates to save money on mailings, but also required each to cede some control to the county organization.
Indeed, neither candidate seemed especially eager to participate in the joint campaign. Judge Sikowitz, who is now a housing court judge, was unable to pay her share of the costs, and Judge Yellen, who is now a referee in family court, balked at Norman’s demand that she participate in certain mass mailings, Mr. Feldman testified.
At one meeting, Mr. Feldman testified, Norman “got quite angry” and threatened to withdraw his support from Judge Yellen unless she agreed to pay for a $9,000 mailing to parts of central Brooklyn.
“It got very quiet very quickly and an agreement was formed in a matter of seconds,” Mr. Feldman testified.
Whether that demand amounts to extortion and coercion, as prosecutors say it does, is the central question before the jury.
Until last month, Mr. Feldman had spent 18 years working for the borough’s Democratic organization and he described the process by which the organization endorsed certain candidates but not others. Mr. Feldman was originally indicted alongside Norman, but charges against him were dismissed last year when he agreed to testify for the prosecution.
