In an exclusive sit-down interview early Thursday, popular Assemblyman Roger Green, 57th assembly district (AD), told the Daily Challenge a debt of $90 for cookies and gas cost him $2,000 in fines, 3-years probation, loss of his salary and, ultimately, his seat in the State Assembly.
''As chair of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus we had created an internship program named after Malcolm X. We had three students, from C.W. Post, Cornell and Moorhouse College, who worked in my office. Around the time of the Caucus weekend, CSC had given us transportation to help us move materials. They had an old beat up van that was in name of the corporation. That [van] helped us carry materials from Brooklyn to Albany and back.''
Green, not having a driving license, said the interns drove and he would pay for the gas and tolls of the trips.
On one occasion, Green said that an intern submitted a claim for reimbursement from the corporation, but it turns out that it wasn't legitimate for him to ask for reimbursement from the company.
''Basically... a year and a half ago, I got a call from a reporter from the New York Post, who essentially asked whether or not I had ever taken a ride from a state halfway-house contractor, Correctional Services Corp (CSC). I said that I had. The Post alleged that this was a case of bribery and graft. They then started writing editorials calling on different prosecutors to indict me. They attempted to get DA Hynes, but he wouldn't take the case; they went for Elliot Spitzer, but he wouldn't take the case. Unfortunately, they found a DA in Albany, and the only folk he seems to prosecute are people of color.
''So after a year of intensive investigation by the Albany DA's office, it eventually came down to a charge, that on December 19 1999, I filed a false instrument and that I had not paid for gas and tolls,” says Green.
In addressing the obvious question of whether Green paid for gas and toll or not, Green says, ''Truth be told, I don't know. Under the guidelines of the house you did not have to submit any receipts. My attorney said that it was a $90 dollar administrative error – an intern had filed a voucher to the CRC for gas and for cookies. I know the young man and I have spoken to him. I asked him if he thought that I didn't give him money for gas, and he said that he didn't remember that day five years ago anyhow.''
''We didn't think it would be raised to the level of criminal intent, as if someone was trying to concoct some scheme of false billing to the state. The assumption was that we would be able to write a check for the mistake that was made. But given the hysteria the Post whipped up, there rose a very different climate. From their very first story, the Post had already begun to criminalize me.''
Green notes, ''At the same time this was happening to me, the story broke that Gov. Pataki was using his state car and plane for campaign purposes, and had run up a charge of $28,000. The state ethics committee and some other oversight groups said that this is a real problem, and they were concerned, because there are no clear guidelines about how the governor can use his state car and plane for campaign purposes. Still, there was no attempt to prosecute him, and he wrote a check – not for $28,000, but for $6,000.''
Green adds, ''But, that was different in my particular case. As with the governor, the law is unclear as to whether the issue is an actual violation of law. With the guidelines for transportation, there is no direction given to members of the legislature, regarding traveling in someone else's car and paying for the gas. The guidelines only speak to when members are traveling in their own car, train or rental car.
”We tried to show this to the prosecution, that just as with the governor – who paid back $6,000 out of $28,000 – there just are no clear guidelines. Since there was no intent, why not let us just write a check? The response was 'No.’”
Green breaks his circumstance to: ''The Republicans were essentially trying to depose me from office; it was déjà vu with what they did to Adam Clayton Powell.''
If the ethics committee had removed Green from office, stripped him of his committee chair and given him sanctions, ''I would not have been able to run again.'' So Green optioned to resign from his seat, where in five months he could run for his seat in the November elections.
''I'm fired up, I won't let them break my spirit. I feel good.''
Currently being organized in his support is a rally to be attended by Rev. Jesse Jackson, Muhammad Ali and Eddie Ellis. Green declares, ''I am going to start petitioning next week, and I am going to take up the directorship of my Voices for Children Peace and Restorative Justice Initiative. I will be working in the district. If I win in the fall and get back into office, I will come back swinging.''
