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REFORMATOR STEVE LEVY

Interview with Suffolk County executive Steve Levy Campaign Office, Sayville, New York 10/22/03 by Michael Dorfman

SL:Our Suffolk County legislature is very volatile, it’s very rambunctious and there is always debate and there is always a lot of shouting and screaming. Some people ask meare you for it or some people want to abolish the legislature and go to a board of supervisors, which to me is a very big mistake.So they ask me, that legislature is crazy do you want to or will you abolish it? I say…absolutely not.The legislature …it might not be the prettiest thing to see, but it democracy in action.It’s very much like the Israeli Knesset.You know where people are yelling and screaming, going back and forth…but that’s democracy.What scares me is when you have people who make all the decisions in the back room and then come out and they are just a rubber stamp…5 zero, five zero, five zero. You want to see the debate, the interaction going on right there., that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

My dad...it was in his blood, when he was in the Marine Corp he used to do a lot of the newspaper work.

Q: We noticed a lot of signs in the neighborhoods where it says Stop Levy, Stop Taxes. I wasn’t able to put my finger on exactly what they meant by that….

The Republicans out here run the same campaign against any opponent.They try to define them as being for high taxes.When the opposite is true and most people know that.That’s why I’m leading in the polls. The taxes are high here. It’s because those in power have increased the size of the budget so vastly to feed the political machine. This is a campaign where we are trying to break up that machine.There have been a lot of scandals in Suffolk County.And it cost taxpayers millions of dollars.I’m seen as the reform candidate who is going to try to knock it down.They don’t know how to handle that, so they only thing they can do is go back to their back on no matter who the opponent is on the Democratic side, they will try to say that they are going to raise taxes and it doesn’t wash with me because I’ve got a much better tax fighting record than my opponent does.

Q; We noticed in several places people taking down campaign signs while leaving others…

There is a lot of thuggerygoing on…we actually have someone on tape knocking down our signs, because they had done it so many time…we put up a surveillance camera and we got them in the act, so we’ll be reporting that to the proper authorities.We even had the other side plant someone in our campaign office, which is illegal, and they were stealing information.We caught them.

Q; One would think Watergate taught us not to do that….

Right,you’d think they would have.

Q;Suffolk County has a lot of financial woes. You have several Ideas on how to fix the budget and bring us back on line, but doesn’t that mean that there will be programs that will be lost?

It doesn’t have to be.If you removed all of the scandal and mismanagement from this government you would have enough money to stabilize taxes, and provide the need services that all relish.There was 45 million dollars wasted in our Open Space Scandal, about 90 million dollars wasted in our self-Insurance scandal, 19 million dollars wasted in the car leasing scandal…if you add up all this waste it exceeds the amount of our biggest projected deficit. So if you just have proper management, and weed out the scandal, we should be able to expand our bus services, and provide for the needy and the elderly and to continue to move forward with our open space preservation.So you can have your cake and eat it too, so to speak, if you just manage properly, and give proper priority.We had a health commissioner several years ago, who resigned in disgust, because she couldn’t get money for nurses and important items. Yet when it came to patronage and the other wasting government, you could get it at the drop of the hat.And that’s the wrong priorities for this county, I’m known as an independent reformer who is not part of the political clubhouse, who has the ability to change things and provide for the services that we need.

Q:Do see for instance…increasing the police force.Many people are frustrated at the length of time it takes police to respond to accidents and so on…

Well, the police are very professional and they do a good job of protecting us, but there is a great deal of inefficiency within the department and this is one place where I have a big disagreement with my opponent.I want to civilianize our police department.We have some officers, who make over a 100k per year, who are in the audiovisual department, behind desks or in the computer room and we should have those highly trained officers in our neighborhoods protecting us. You can replace them with a 40k civilian, doing those white collar, or even pink-collar, jobs.The problem is there is such a lack of will to innovate that no one has made it a top priority and I will.

Q; You mentioned the corruption in government, do you have examples?

Yes, the county executive allowed his former law partner to run the open space program, while still maintaining an interest in a title company, which was doing business with the landowners that we were buying from.So some of these parcels, which might have had a fair market value of one million dollars, we were paying five million dollars for them.So they were giving away the store because of these political connections.This is one example; another example is with the car leasing.We all know that it is a lot cheaper to buy the vehicle outright, than it is to lease it.Yet the county’s political operatives decided to lease because one of their cronies had an interest in one of the car-leasing firms.That was a 19 million dollar waste.And there was another example of where the county was allowing these vending machine owners to bring in their vending machines without any kind of competitive bids.So we put a stop to that.So there are many, many instances of inefficiencies and mismanagement, which has cost the taxpayers dearly.And I think this campaign is going to be a referendum on that corruption.

Q:We are a small piece of a big state, how do you see yourself in the position of executive, fighting for us with Albany or Washington?

I think that it is important that the county executive in Suffolk unite with the county executives in similar sub-urban counties, Nassau County and Westchester County, to gain more clout when dealing with Albany.I’m in Albany now and I can tell you that it’s a very partisan and very structured environment.You are competing for attention; you are competing for a limited amount of attention that’s out there. When you combine with others and increase your clout, you are more likely to reap rewards.The advantage that I will bring as county executive is that I have the personal relationships with the people that count in Albany.Such as the Speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver and many other important people. So I don’t have to start from scratch and introduce myself to them, they know me very well.We have a wonderful relationship and I think they will be ready to help us with our needs here in Suffolk County.

Q; I understand that Gaffney vetoed the hiring hall… what is your feeling about that?

Well, I don’t think that we should be spending money in a way that would subsidize an employer who is not paying his sales tax.First I think you have to divide it into two categories.First is the racial element.There have been many of our immigrants who have been picked on because they look different and/ or they have a different culture.And that has to be condemned.When there was a firebombing of a local immigrant’s home, I was the only candidate who showed up at the vigil to denounce it.So it’s important that we enforce our anti-bias laws against those who would commit heinous racial acts against our immigrants.At the same time we also have to enforce our labor laws. And there are some companies out there who are trying to do the right thing, by paying their sales taxes, their unemployment tax, and workman’s compensation.The government should not be subsidizing firms that skirt around that system.So what we should be doing is making a determination as to – do we have a void within our labor force? And do we want more immigrants to fill it? If so,we should just do it the right way through legal immigration, and through proper working papers and this way those who have waited on line will get here first as opposed to allowing others to cut in front of the line.

Q:Suffolk has a growing immigrant population that is not just Hispanic, as for instance the Russians moving out from NYC, the Polish immigration, there are more foreign speakers around Riverhead than there has ever been before.What do you think that means for Suffolk County?

Diversity is a good thing. Our nation was built on people from different cultures, joining together under one mosaic. And we want to continue to try to assimilate all individuals into our American culture while still allowing for various cultures to retain their special identity.But I think it’s healthy.Look at NYC, were it not for immigrants in NYC, to fill the void from those who left, NY would be on its knees right now.But it’s been the immigrants who have started the new businesses and provided for growth and the excitement that has brought NYC back to being a thriving metropolis again. So it can be a very, very healthy thing. What we want to do of course is follow the rules and follow our laws and promote immigration in a legal and orderly fashion.

Q:There seems to be a rush to almost punish those who trying to do it legally.

Yes, well that the contradiction, because if you are trying to do it the right way, they make you jump thru hoops and they will make it so difficult that they’ll create an incentive to many to say –The heck with it, I’ll just do what the others do and not pay attention to the rules and no one will do anything to me.You, people are often punished because they come forward and put themselves on the list and make themselves known to the INS. And it shouldn’t be that way.We want people to coordinate and cooperate with the INS, but our rules and regulations are so ridiculously backwards and cumbersome that a lot of people throw up their hands in frustration.There was a story of this one individual from Scotland, who was a reverend at a local church, who was being threatened with deportation because his paperwork was messed up and yet other people have been here for ten years and never reported to INS and no one is coming after them or doing anything about it… so you know, here we are telling people--Do it the right way.— but then when you do , we are going to make things so difficult for you that you will regret it….And this has to change.

Q:A few years ago Suffolk had a growing population of Jews.In the past year we had a change in state law with reference to the kosher laws.

Thanks to Sheldon Silvers fighting to help over turn it.

Q: What is the status of the legislation?What is the new law?

The court had stated that our old law was unconstitutional.But since then the NY State Assembly has passed legislation, through the leadership of Sheldon Silver, to react to that piece of legislation. To that Court case and now, you know, we are hoping it will become law.

Q: The Commack deli lost ¾ of their business because of the lawsuits and old laws -- the brothers are very frustrated.It seems that we have taken something away from the Suffolk Jewish population, because now they have to track into the city for their goods.

We need some kind of objective standard out there.That can help consumers, make very informed decisions as to what is legitimately kosher and the court made it much more difficult, but I think that the state is going to… the state is on its way to resolving that.We realize there is a need to go back to the sense of stability and certainty that existed before this silly lawsuit, this silly law decision.The Assembly has been very good, because I know that Shelly Silver has taken this as one of his top priorities and I know because he’s mentioned this in our caucus many, many times.And we did pass that legislation, especially thanks to Shelly Silver.

Q: But wasn’t Sheldon silver against this whole lawsuit?

I know what Sheldon Silver was doing was reacting to the lawsuit, which threw out the ability of the government to set proper standards as to what would constitute kosher. Officially being kosher.And he thought that was wrong and I know that he has fashioned legislation to change that.I don’t know where Sheldon stands viz-a-vie that particular deli.I don’t about that.

Q: What is the status of that particular legislation?

It passed the Assembly, but I would have to check to see if it passed the Senate.

Q: What will you do for the seniors?

The biggest problem that our seniors are facing right now is the cost of prescription drugs and insurance.My mom who is in her seventies, never let me forget it.I’ve called for an innovative program, whereby we would allow our senior citizens to purchase their prescription drugs in volume along with our county employees. We buy prescription drugs for our employees and retirees by the thousands.So the bigger volume you buy in the greater is the savings.If we can do it for our employees, we should allow our senior citizens to piggyback their purchases with the employees.So that is a program that I am going to be looking to implement when I’m county executive.That would be a big help.We also need to assist our seniors through state legislation by allowing their children to take care of them in their later years and getting a tax deduction.We want to encourage more seniors to stay out of nursing homes and in their homes with in home care.Things of that sort. I think most seniors want to stay home, they do not want to go to a nursing home. And if we have that kind of in home nursing care, its more humane and it can actually be cheaper.

Q: What would you do to encourage the young people to participate in politics?

A lot of young people have been disillusioned by their government, because of the influence of the special interest money, that why I am such a big believer of campaign finance reform. A lot of young people think their government is for sale to the highest bidder.They don’t look at a difference between Democrat and Republican, they just see everyone as being in, as in just trying to get themselves re-elected.It’s a cynical approach, but it’s understandable, because of the impact that money has had on campaigns.I think if we can mitigate the influence of money in campaigns we will have more independent legislators who are less partisan and that will reflect very well with our younger populations.Our younger population is not interested in what’s Democratic and Republican … they want to know about issues that effect them personally.Now of course, when there is a war going on to the extend of Vietnam that is effecting them personally and you had a draft in place… they are naturally going to be far more active than if there were no draft in place. It’s never going to go back to the sixties in that regard, but we have got to get young people more involved than they are right now. I think the way to do that is to show them that their vote matters and that the people they are putting into office care more about them and they do about chasing the almighty dollar around all the time.I am the kind of a legislator who has never had a family member on the payroll; I rejected my own salary increase, because I want to have the moral high ground when I talk to others to share and to sacrifice and to give of themselves to their community… I want to be the first one to lead by example.

Q: Is there anything you would like to say to the Jewish and Russian Jewish community?

I just want to basically say that we welcome the influx of Jewish immigrants.They have a tremendous work ethic and are among our top entrepreneurs that help grow our business community. The NY metropolitan area has always been a refuge for Jews around the world. We want to continue to have that open door and open arms policy.Suburbia was in part, you know, founded with many Jewish families moving from NYC to Long Island, where we presently are and the Jewish population here in Suffolk County plays a major role in political development.The highly educated, highly trained, Jewish work force is an invaluable commodity within our economy here in Suffolk County.We just want to create a climate where we attract more and more such families to try to experience the American Dream right here in Suffolk County.More and more Jewish families I should say.

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