With a big war chest, Levy's at a crossroads

July 20, 2008

When Steve Levy first won his county legislature seat in 1985, he spent $5,000 and a lot of shoe leather walking the district.

Recent columns

• POLITICS & POWER: Trying to keep the Party going

  July 13, 2008

  At one time, when state Sen. Caesar Trunzo walked into a party convention as boss of the powerful Islip Republican organization, fellow leaders would bow and say, "Hail Caesar."

• Schneiderman's defection weakens limping Suffolk GOP

  July 6, 2008

  Republican Suffolk Legis. Jay Schneiderman celebrated the Fourth of July in his own way Friday, filling out a new voter registration form to change parties and become a member of the Independence Party.

• Skelos' effort to save GOP one for the ages

  June 29, 2008

  When Dean Skelos first became deputy majority leader in 1994, his hair was still dark, and though in his mid-40s, he was considered the young blood in a club dominated by guys of retirement age.

• One reporter's look at Suffolk Life

  June 19, 2008

  When I worked at Suffolk Life in the mid-1970s, a starting reporter made $125 a week, got a free tank of gasoline from the company pump and all the fried chicken they could eat on Monday nights when the paper was laid out.

• Infighting marks Bellport village board elections

  June 15, 2008

  To the casual visitor, Bellport is a clapboard paradise with broad verandas, a quaint downtown and spreading shade trees that with bay breezes provide relief from summer heat.

• Last-minute entry for State Senate makes splash

  May 25, 2008

  Call it a not-so-instant replay.

• McCarthy to face the mayor

  May 18, 2008

  For the last five years, Jack Martins has been U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy's hometown mayor in Mineola. For the next five months, the Republican lawyer will also be her backyard foe for re-election to a seventh term.

• Scrap over scrap-metal bill in Suffolk

  May 12, 2008

  Suffolk Legis. Jack Eddington thought his proposal was a "no-brainer."

• Levy convinces state he would pull cops off highways

  May 4, 2008

  When County Executive Steve Levy's top lobbyist Ben Zwirn and police patrol chief Robert Ponzo met in Albany with state police officials last month, they carried signed transfer orders to send 13 Suffolk highway patrol officers back to local precincts.

• Suffolk lawmaker Montano called pivotal, prickly

  April 27, 2008

  Lately, Suffolk Legis. Ricardo Montano has gone his own way ... a lot.