US News

CONFLICT EYED IN SAMPSON MOVE

ALBANY — State Senate Democratic leader John Sampson is suing Schools Chancellor Joel Klein on behalf of a fired assistant principal — raising questions about what’s really behind the Brooklyn lawmaker’s opposition to mayoral-control legislation, The Post has learned.

In his work as a trial lawyer, Sampson is representing an ex-assistant principal of special education at James Madison HS in Brooklyn who was canned after “verbally abusing” a special-needs student.

The former school official, Merlin Rosal-Hutchinson, wants to return to her job and collect back pay and Sampson is seeking to have his legal fees covered, according to court papers filed by the city and obtained by The Post.

Ethics watchdogs said the case of Sampson’s undisclosed legal work — at the same time that he permitted the mayoral-control law to die Tuesday night — could present a conflict of interest.

“It raises troubling questions,” said Dick Dadey of the watchdog group Citizens Union. “He’s carrying two obligations and there’s a potential for them to be in conflict.”

Dadey added, “We should know more about the nature of [lawmakers’] work and how it intersects with their public duties. We never know when there might be a conflict of interest.”

Under current Senate ethics rules, Sampson — who has represented volatile rapper Foxy Brown, who was charged with assaulting her manicurist — is not required to disclose who his law clients are or how much he makes from his outside job.

City officials said the assistant principal was axed in part for her conduct last year toward a disabled student, who has a writing disability, after the student asked for help from Rosal-Hutchinson.

According to court papers, she berated the student and shouted, “There is no such thing as a writing disability.” When the student insisted that he did need help, Rosal-Hutchinson allegedly said, “Do what you want! I don’t care.”

City lawyers also took Sampson to task for including kids’ names, addresses and psychological evaluations in the legal papers he filed on behalf of his client.

The city charged that was a violation of the special-ed students’ privacy rights.

The lawsuit, which also names the city Department of Education, comes as Sampson is calling to water down Mayor Bloomberg’s control over the city’s schools.

“We are firmly opposed to mayoral control of the Senate,” Sampson fumed this week, demanding the body have the chance to make changes to a mayoral-control bill that has passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly.

jennifer.fermino@nypost.com