White money controls Black politics.

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Author: Maddox Jr., Alton H.

I doubt if any civil rights worker would have put his or her life on the line forty years ago if a crystal ball had been available. It would have revealed Black politics in 2005. These activists would have also been informed that the condition of Blacks would get progressively worse as more Blacks were elected to political office.

Forty years after the Voting Rights Act of 1965, no discussion is occurring in the Black community about the impact of politics on our economic and political woes. We must now think critically, connect the dots and think outside the box. Critical thinking and analysis, unfortunately, has escaped the Black community.

Prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Supreme Court announced the "one person, one vote" principle. The Dumberton Oaks Conference in 1944 sought to commit the "one state, one vote principle" to a proposed United Nations. It is now enshrined in Article 18 of the United Nations Charter.

This principle of international law is intended to ensure political equality among voters. Money has the effect, if not the intent, of undermining this constitutional design. Putting money in politics is like putting a fox in a chicken coop. The fox wins every time.

This is one of the reasons why Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. knew that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would be ineffective without the Poor People's Campaign. A million Blacks must now camp out in tents on Capitol Hill and wait until America comes to its senses. Dr. King had to pay, with his life, for knocking on the right door, talking to the right people and raising the right question.

Eliot Spitzer's campaign for state attorney general changed the political fabric of the Black community. In August 1998, Revs. Al Sharpton and William A. Jones would connect me to the Spitzer campaign. They publicly claimed that their support for Spitzer was conditioned on his promise for my immediate reinstatement to practice law in 1999.

Carl Andrews was Sptizer's liaison to the Black community. He is now a state senator and, for years, a close confidant and top lieutenant of Assemb. Clarence Norman. The media is reporting that Spitzer started sending Norman personal checks in 1998 and hiring his cronies. Norman was convicted in September for pocketing campaign funds.

In attempting to defend Spitzer against a breach of a campaign promise, Andrews claimed that Revs. Sharpton and Jones each received a personal quid pro quo for their endorsements. If true, I am sure Spitzer would not have had it any other way. He sees it as chattel slavery.

The political endorsement itself arises out of an express contract. The implied contract involves a promise that the endorser will serve as a buffer and will insulate the successful candidate from public criticism in the Black community and criminal blame. Black dissent will not be tolerated. Talk show hosts have been recruited to enforce this rule.

Politics in New York is based on economic inequality. Studies show that households in the bottom fifth of wage earners in New York make about 2 cents compared to the top fifth income earners. This explains why Mayor Michael Bloomberg will occupy Gracie Mansion for the next four years with relatively substantial Black support. Money elects political candidates.

After I filed a civil rights action against state judges for violating my constitutional rights, that whites are not bound to respect, Spitzer filed a notice of appearance on behalf of those state defendants. I asked him to disqualify himself because he will be both a witness and an advocate. He refused.

I have asked Rev. Sharpton to file a detailed affidavit about all relevant facts concerning Spitzer's political campaign, particularly, as it relates to his campaign promise for my immediate reinstatement to practice law in 1999. Rev. Sharpton has given me an affidavit of fear. It's like giving a federal judge a three dollar bill with Little Richard on it.

The media is seeking to connect Spitzer to Norman. Spitzer started giving Norman personal checks in 1998. I am sure that many Black elected officials and ministers have received similar checks drawn on Spitzer's bank accounts. Under these circumstances, they have every reason to stay away from me.

The drama with Spitzer never stops. It has now engulfed my office at 16 Court Street in Brooklyn. I have been in this office for over twenty-one years. It has been used for a number of community functions including the headquarters of the United African Movement since 1988.

After borrowing five figures from a major Harlem businessman, because I have zero income, I satisfied the rent judgment in Brooklyn Housing Court. The check was sent, timely, by overnight delivery to the landlord's attorney. I have the delivery receipt. The landlord's attorney claimed that it did not receive the check. The Harlem businessman has the cancelled check.

Nonetheless, the landlord's attorney has commanded a city marshal to serve a warrant of eviction. See Dred Scott. This looming eviction is designed to disrupt the federal litigation and to stop my writings especially in this newspaper. I am using every bone in my body to stop this eviction. It is a crime in this city to be a fugitive from the plantation and to refrain from accepting white money.

My mission is to end slavery and show a white supremacist like Spitzer that he has no business owning any Black person. Slavery is the reason we are unable to unite as a people. We may assemble in D.C. annually but disunity will continue as long as Black activists and leaders continue to exchange independence for materialism and media attention.

The landlord's attorney for 16 Court Street in Brooklyn is well connected to Ferrer's mayoral campaign and to Spitzer. The law firm of Borah, Goldstein, Altschuler, Schwartz & Nahins is a major donor to Ferrer's campaign. Ferrer's landlord is William Schur, a major donor to Ferrer's campaign. Schur is also linked to the law firm. This law firm is seeking my scalp. Connect the dots.

Twenty years ago, I had just won an acquittal in a pro bono representation, in a criminal case, of Jonah Perry, a Cornell University student and brother of Edmund Perry, who was fatally shot by a white cop in Harlem. Jonah was charged with robbery as a cover for the cop's claim of self-defense.

It would have been embarrassing to the Black community for Jonah to be represented by a public defender. We ask our children to do well and then we refuse to support them after whites have either ensnared or entrapped them. During my legal career, this was a recurring theme and white supremacists would use it to denigrate our children. See Central Park jogger case.

The week after the acquittal, I got a knock at my office from an IRS agent with a newspaper article in her hand about Jonah's acquittal. She told me that I had to cough up $25,000 (at least $75,000 today) immediately or the IRS would shut down my law practice for good.

This Black woman told me that, like other Blacks, I needed to learn how to turn my back to Black injustice. Otherwise, I would continue to skate on thin ice without a life preserver. This was not a threat. It was a promise. The political establishment fulfilled it in May 1990.

A Harlem businesswoman loaned me the money. I personally repaid every dime of it to her. This would be an omen. Moreover, the IRS claimed that the National Conference of Black Lawyers, a not-for-profit corporation, owed the money and, because I once had a management position at NCBL, I could be singled out to repay the debt.

In the meantime, I had found out that the New York Public Library had a financial proposal with NCBL to stop me from representing the Schomburg Coalition pro bono. NCBL was also working with the U.S. attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, to get a grand jury to indict me. He convened a grand jury. Regrettably, Black unity is not on the horizon anytime soon. See Marcus Garvey.

Next week's column: "The Untold Story of the Civil Rights Movement."

See Clarence Norman at www.reinstatealtonmaddox.com

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By Alton H. Maddox Jr.