Newsday court filing: Steve Levy's latest demands for secrecy 'beyond the pale'
Newsday in a new court filing dismissed former Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy’s latest attempt to keep secret his non-prosecution deal as "beyond the pale," and urged an appellate panel to allow the newspaper to intervene in a case involving its own document request.
Since May, Levy has filed hundreds of pages of court documents, seeking to block the Suffolk County district attorney from releasing to Newsday the 2011 non-prosecution agreement with former District Attorney Thomas Spota that ended Levy’s political career.
Levy has argued the "under seal priviledged" (sic) label on the document ensures its secrecy even though it contains no terms for withholding public release.
Levy also has argued that publication of the agreement would harm his reputation, and could jeopardize future district attorney settlements with others.
Newsday and Suffolk County Attorney Dennis Cohen, who is representing county District Attorney Timothy Sini, say the agreement is fair game under the state Freedom of Information Law, and that its release is squarely in the public interest.
Spota has since been convicted of federal conspiracy and obstruction charges.
State Supreme Court Justice Paul Baisley Jr. ruled in July that Levy had to release the agreement.
Levy appealed the decision to the State Appellate Division, arguing against the document's release.
In its latest reply brief, Newsday argued, "Beyond a legitimate interest in reporting generally on the activities of these public officials, Newsday has a valid and specific interest in informing the public about their [Levy and Spota’s] secret deal, which Levy himself claims to have sprung from a 'political coup' against him."
The brief continues: "Levy’s insistence that the public should never be allowed to know the facts surrounding this coup is beyond the pale."
Newsday sought status to intervene in the case after a lower-court ruling in the newspaper’s favor called the intervention request "moot."
But Newsday argues intervenor status in the appellate court case is necessary to argue for the paper’s position, particularly since Newsday’s document request in February launched the case.
Newsday also noted it has reported "extensively" about Levy and Spota over the years — not out of "idle curiosity," as Levy suggests in court filings, "but because they were high-ranking public officials, with significant power over the lives of Suffolk County residents and the spending of their taxpayer dollars."
Newsday noted repeated U.S. Supreme Court rulings supporting the nation's "profound … commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust and wide-open."
A "‘political coup’ through which a now-disgraced District Attorney ousted a popular County Executive surely qualifies as a ‘public issue,’" Newsday argued.
"Keeping facts surrounding that coup secret only prevents the ‘uninhibited, robust and wide-open’ debate that is properly needed," the paper said.
LI native killed in New Orleans attack ... NJ files congestion pricing suit ... Altice, MSG dispute latest ... What's up on LI
LI native killed in New Orleans attack ... NJ files congestion pricing suit ... Altice, MSG dispute latest ... What's up on LI