The man who just dethroned 23-year incumbent Charles Hynes to become Brooklyn’s next top lawman is already misleading the public about his close ties to a former Democratic Party boss sent to prison for selling judgeships, The Post has learned.
Presumptive DA-elect Kenneth Thompson, an attorney and former federal prosecutor, emphatically denied that ex-con Clarence Norman Jr. played a key role in his upset victory over Hynes, despite multiple sources telling The Post that the disgraced ex-assemblyman was a fixture of the campaign — working for Thompson out of an office on Montgomery Street near Nostrand Avenue.
Norman — whom Hynes put in the Big House for public corruption in 2007 — was calling the shots for Thompson’s “get out the vote” effort, the sources said. Prior to that, Norman worked for months on the campaign from other locations, they added.
“Let me just say this — he was not at my campaign office at all,” the former federal prosecutor insisted Wednesday. “Clarence Norman is not a friend.
“So he was at the victory party, but there were hundreds of people. A lot of people came from the community because this was a historic night.
“He played absolutely no role in my campaign.”
But four sources — all top Democratic operatives, including two who actively supported Thompson — said Norman was holding court from the Crown Heights office, where he also ran operations for mayoral candidate Bill Thompson and Eliot Spitzer’s failed comptroller campaign. The office belongs to Bill Thompson’s campaign.
“Clarence was running the show,” said a Brooklyn pol. “I know for a fact that Clarence was working the phones hard for Ken, because I know a lot of people who got calls from him, and they told me so.”
Norman, who was sentenced to three to nine years jail in 2007 and was paroled in 2011, also handed out political palm cards for Thompson on primary day and directed his staffers about which palm cards to distribute and where they should be deployed throughout the borough’s election districts, directing citizens how to vote.
Sources said Thompson and Norman are longtime family friends, and one source said Thompson considers Norman a close political “confidant.”
Norman, they said, was brought in to help ensure that the community in Central Brooklyn came out to support Thompson’s bid to become the borough’s first black DA.
“I think this was also personal for Clarence,” said a political operative, referring to Norman’s “hatred” of Hynes.
A jubilant Norman told The Post at Thompson’s victory party Tuesday night that “God said it was finally time that justice should be served in Brooklyn.”
Norman did not return messages left Wednesday and Thursday.
The Post previously reported that Thompson steered $22,500 in campaign funds to a shadowy group with ties to Norman, while Spitzer steered $95,000 and Bill Thompson $105,000 to the same organization.
The group, Time for Change, is run by Musa Moore, a pal of Norman from his days as party leader.
Democratic leaders said they were stunned Norman is trying to play political kingmaker again — and even that he attended Thompson’s bash.
Some wondered if the new DA would repay Norman’s support with a political or consulting job. Thompson said Norman won’t be involved in DA operations.
Hynes, who will still be listed on the Republican and Conservative party ballots in the general election in November, has said he would not campaign.
His reps declined comment.