Levy's legacy: Fiscal hawk, combative loner

On the first day Steve Levy took office in 2004, he did something no Suffolk County executive had done in more than four decades -- he drove himself to work.

Levy ended the practice of police bodyguards chauffeuring Suffolk's top official, saving $500,000 a year. "I realized it would not solve the difficulties," Levy said in an interview this month, alluding to a $230 million budget deficit when he took office. "But I did it to set the high moral ground."

It was trademark Levy.

A combative political loner who during 15 years in the county legislature was often on the losing side of 17-1 votes, Levy won the county's top job as a Democrat after building a reputation with populist stands such as holding the line on county taxes.

He leaves office at week's end following an activist tenure in which he kept fiscal issues at the fore. "I hope I'm remembered as an executive that changed the fiscal culture of the county," Levy, 52, said.

Mitchell Pally, head of the Long Island Builders Institute, said Levy's most lasting legacy is that he focused attention on how the county spent its money, long before other governments faced the issue after the Wall Street meltdown.

"He changed the conversation, without a doubt," Pally said. "He raised fiscal issues to the highest level and he was not bashful about putting things on the table that no one wanted to even bring up before."

But Levy also departs office after a deal with Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota -- its details still undisclosed -- in which he agreed to turn over his $4 million campaign fund and not seek a third term, to end an investigation into his campaign fundraising.

While Levy contends his proposed budget was balanced, legislative critics say he leaves behind a county struggling with a $100 million budget deficit and exhausted by his battles with public officials from every political party, county unions, and immigration advocates over his hard-line stance on undocumented workers.

Just before Christmas, Spota criticized Police Commissioner Richard Dormer's handling of the Gilgo Beach murder probe and singled out Levy for exercising "unprecedented" political influence over the police department. Levy maintains he and Dormer simply took back management control of the department from the unions to save taxpayers money.

Fiscal conservative to the hilt

To Levy supporters, the centerpiece of his legacy is how he held the line on the general property tax rate. During his two terms as county executive, Suffolk's bond rating rose seven times, to record levels, although Moody's Investor Services earlier this month dropped short-term notes by a notch.

Levy kept general fund taxes flat for his entire eight years and lowered the county's share of the overall property tax bill from 13 percent to 10 percent. He took tough stands with public employee unions over wages, benefits and work rules, and angered the Police Benevolent Association by turning over most highway patrol duties to sheriff's deputies in order to save money.

Levy's fiscal stands helped Democrats in 2006 win control of the county legislature for the first time in more than three decades -- a majority they still hold. He endorsed the party's slate in mailings that featured a Good Housekeeping-like gold seal. However, Levy said many lawmakers later backed away from his fiscal policies -- and that in retrospect he should have made them "commit upfront" to his agenda.

Levy also touted his fiscal record when he launched a campaign for governor last year, which made him a statewide political figure. After switching to the Republican Party, Levy lost at the GOP convention.

Levy's fiscal battles continued until his final budget for 2012, where he proposed more than 700 layoffs to gain union concessions -- a move opposed by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

"Neither side wanted to make the tough decisions when they were up for election," he said, maintaining that his final budget, for 2012, is balanced and that he leaves Suffolk in better shape than Nassau and other counties that are suffering the aftershocks of the recession.

Opponents responded that the 2012 budget is out of balance and will have to be fixed within the first six months of the new administration of County Executive-elect Steve Bellone.

"Certainly, part of his legacy is that Suffolk is in the worst shape the county has ever been in," said legislative Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook).

Beyond his fiscal record, Levy carved out a county role in affordable housing, providing $15 million in infrastructure aid. He directed increased funding for sewer construction, solar energy projects and county clean-fuel cars. He worked successfully to turn Suffolk's long-dormant Gabreski Airport in Westhampton into a business park that is intended to create as many as 1,000 jobs. And he helped resolve a land dispute that cleared the way for Canon USA to relocate its North American headquarters to Melville from Lake Success.

Terry Alessi-Miceli, president of the Hauppauge Industrial Association, said the county is spending $42 million to double the sewer capacity for the industrial area by 2014. "He understands the importance of keeping business alive," she said.

Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri said Levy's "fingerprints are all over" more than $8 million in aid for sewer improvements and affordable housing for more than 500 new apartments that are sparking downtown revitalization. "It's made a dramatic change" in the village, Pontieri said. "You can walk down Main Street at 11 o'clock at night and feel safe."

Tough stance on immigration

But Levy also was dogged by the controversy over his immigration stance after Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero was fatally stabbed in Patchogue in 2008.

Early on, Levy took a tough stance against illegal immigration, proposing, for example, to deputize county police as immigration officers, make immigration checks for those arrested in connection with serious crimes, and requiring county vendors to prove all employees were legal.

In the days after the Lucero slaying, critics castigated Levy for saying the killing "would have been a one-day story" had it happened in Nassau County. Levy denounced Lucero's killing as "heinous." He said, in response to a reporter's question about why such crimes seemed more prevalent in Suffolk, he was arguing that stories dealing with the illegal-immigration debate get more attention in Suffolk because of his stance on the issue.

Nonetheless, Levy, in a rare retreat, went on television to apologize, saying it was "the wrong time for me to suggest that coverage of events in Suffolk are treated different by the media."

Pontieri said Levy's statements "made a difficult situation more difficult. Instead of the focus being on healing the community, it became about the county executive . . . and it made it more difficult for us to move forward."

Nonetheless, Levy stands by his stance on illegal immigration. "I was the first official to stand up for the homeowners who had 60 men living next door or the contractor who was put out of business because others were hiring illegal immigrants . . . ," he said. "The politicians and the media elite seem to demonize me because I believe in protecting the border, but I believe the public is behind me."

Setbacks, scandals

Lee Koppelman, once Long Island's top planning official and a former professor of Levy's at Stony Brook University, said the county executive could have accomplished as much as H. Lee Dennison. Dennison, an engineer who pioneered Suffolk's planning efforts, built the county road system and pushed for widespread sewering. But Levy's penchant for "poking people in the eye" made him less effective, Koppelman said.

While Levy portrays differences with county lawmakers as nothing more than the normal scrum between the executive and legislative branches, he took the attack-counterattack mode to new levels. Aides recall him calling and texting them during legislative debates with instructions about how to respond. And he issued frequent news releases assailing critics.

"With Levy, you always got the feeling it was personal -- and once and enemy, always an enemy," said Majority Leader Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor).

Legis. Tom Barraga (R-West Islip), who dubbed Levy "the savior of the middle-class taxpayer," said the county executive often was trying to set the record straight after being attacked. "If it becomes personal, Steve Levy is not the kind of person who sits back and takes it."

Levy makes no apologies, and political polling by both major parties at the time he bowed out of the race in March showed that he remained highly popular.

"No one has ever come up to me in the supermarket saying they are mad at me for fighting with the legislature," Levy said. "Very few officials are willing to take on the PBA, which was flying banners saying 'Steve Levy is trying to destroy us.' . . . I'm proud I had the backbone to stand up and fight back."

But he did experience setbacks. Despite years of effort, for instance, Levy was never able to shutter the John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility in Yaphank. He had completed a $36 million deal to sell Suffolk's century-old nursing home but saw it dissolve when the buyer backed out.

His $400 million proposal to create Legacy Village in Yaphank -- a signature project with 1,200 units of affordable housing, a new downtown, an arena and skating rinks -- has died.

Levy blames the demise of the project on Lindsay, a one-time project supporter who Levy said switched positions to secure the vote of Legis. Kate M. Browning (WF-Shirley) for his re-election as legislative leader. Lindsay said the project was no longer needed amid the flood of local foreclosures, which made more low-cost housing available.

Levy's tenure also was bookended by scandal. Months into his first term, Levy campaign adviser Steve Baranello, son of the late state and county Democratic chairman Dominic Baranello, was indicted on charges of taking a bribe from undercover police. Within days, Baranello pleaded guilty.

"We were shocked and we had no indication that he was involved in any . . . wrongdoing," Levy said of Baranello, who had spoken nightly to Levy during the campaign. "It's the kind of thing you have no control over."

In March, Levy made the stunning announcement that he would not seek re-election and that he was turning over his campaign fund to Spota. The DA never disclosed details about the investigation.

In an interview, Levy would say only that speculation that the issue was "pay to play" over construction of the new county jail -- having to make political contributions in order to get county work -- or that his wife, Colleen West, who runs a court reporting agency, was getting contracts are "both . . . wrong." He said Spota's probe of his fundraising involved the "alleged use of public resources" and "getting lists from public resources."

Spota's spokesman, Robert Clifford, said, "We decline to comment on Mr. Levy's representation regarding the scope of his conduct." Also unresolved is an ongoing district attorney's probe of the county ethics commission. Legislative critics say the county executive has used the board to lash out at foes, a claim Levy denies.

'Cloud' over his legacy

Tea party activist Steve Flanagan, whose group Conservative Society for Action honored Levy last month, said the county executive "pretty much delivered" smaller government. But he said the DA's probe leaves Levy with "a whole cloud hanging over his head."

Flanagan said Levy has never discussed details of the allegations with him, but that "the truth is going to have come out at some point, and I hope people will be surprised at how trivial the charges are and wonder what it was all about."

Richard Schaffer, the Suffolk Democratic chairman and a Levy backer before Levy switched parties, said that when Levy leaves office, it will be as he came in -- alone. "I think he goes out very lonely -- extremely lonely -- because he has a history of not working with others," Schaffer said.

Yet longtime allies such as Legis. Louis D'Amaro (D-North Babylon) said voters remain loyal to Levy. "At the end of the day, he stood his ground," D'Amaro said. "That may not make him popular within the political bubble, but outside, the public knows him as a man of conviction who was standing up for the taxpayer."

A LOOK AT LEVY'S TIME IN OFFICE

NOVEMBER 2003 Steve Levy, a Democrat, wins his first term for Suffolk County executive, defeating GOP County Clerk Edward Romaine.

MAY 2004 Levy campaign adviser Steve Baranello pleads guilty to bribery and bid rigging only days after his arrest.

MAY 2007 Reacting to Levy's hard-line opposition to a local hiring hall for day laborers, the state Assembly's Black and Hispanic caucus blocks the renewal of 1% of Suffolk's sales tax. Also in May, Suffolk Republicans endorse Democrat Levy for re-election in the first major-party cross-endorsement for county executive in Long Island history.

JUNE Canon USA decides to build a new headquarters in Melville after the administration breaks a legal logjam.

NOVEMBER Levy, backed by both Democratic and Republican parties, wins re-election with 96% of the vote.

SEPTEMBER 2008 Removes highway patrol duties on the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway from the county police, and assigns them to the sheriff's department. Levy says the move will save $10 million a year, though police unions dispute the figure.

NOVEMBER 2008 Shortly after the stabbing death of Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero in Patchogue, Levy, known for hard line rhetoric on illegal immigration, says the incident would have been a "one-day story" had it occurred in Nassau County.

MARCH 2010 Announces plans to become a Republican and run for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

JUNE Fails to win the nomination at the party convention in Manhattan. Also denied approval to run a GOP primary.

MARCH 23, 2011 Announces he will not seek re-election for a third term and will turn over his $4 million campaign fund to District Attorney Thomas Spota after prosecutors question his campaign fundraising.

SEPTEMBER Proposes his final budget calling for more than 700layoffs, shutdown of the county nursing home and closure of the Coram health center. The county legislature later restores all but 88 jobs, keeping the health center and nursing home open for six months.