This week’s story in the Village Voice about former Brooklyn County Leader Clarence Norman selling judgeships begins with a little history.
The darker secret was that the bench itself had been bought, that its polyester black robes were on a perpetual special-sale rack, that smarmy party bosses, ensconced at 16 Court Street across from the supreme court they ruled, demanded cash tribute to "make" a judge. The district attorney, Joe Hynes, who first heard the rumor 36 years ago when he was a young prosecutor running the office's rackets bureau, said in 2003 that he'd have to be "naive to think it didn't happen," that it was "common street talk that this has been going on for eons."
http://villagevoice.com/news/0703,barrett,75548,2.html
Maybe somebody should ask DA Hynes the following: Since you first heard about this practice 36 years ago and are not naïve, did you ever ask Clarence Norman’s immediate predecessor as County Leader, Howard Golden, about any of his this when he was employed by you at a salary of $125,000 per year?