Legal experts' mixed verdict for Levy deal

The deal Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota struck with County Executive Steve Levy after a probe of his campaign finances puzzled some legal experts Friday, while others said it was appropriate.

Under the terms, Levy will not seek re-election this year. He also will turn over his $4.1-million campaign war chest to Spota, who will return the funds to donors who want them back and give any unclaimed money to charity.

Lloyd Constantine, who was a top adviser to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and a past antitrust chief for the state attorney general's office, said the agreement Spota carved out with Levy appears to make sense.

Constantine said that if the $4.1 million in funds are "going to be returned to campaign donors, it's appropriate and a somewhat novel, inventive and positive result."

However, Constantine emphasized that if it is later determined that Levy took the funds as "a quid pro quo for access to his office, then I'm going to say it's not sufficient."

Patricia Pileggi, former head of the public integrity section for the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's office, said, "It's very hard to comment on whether or not that's appropriate without a detailed knowledge of the underlying facts."

Pileggi said that if Spota uncovered technical violations of New York fundraising laws and "given that the funds are going to be returned and he's stating he's not going to run for office so he hasn't benefited," the deal is appropriate.

Pileggi said of Spota: "Certainly, in the statement he released, he considered all the appropriate things."

But Michael Cherkasky, a former top prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office who is chairman of the state Commission on Public Integrity, said he'd never heard of a similar deal, even though prosecutors can consider penalties people may suffer outside the justice system, such as resigning, when deciding on sanctions.

"Until there is a full disclosure of the facts, you can't make a judgment as to the propriety of the prosecutor's action," Cherkasky said.

New York University law professor James Jacobs, the author of "Pursuit of Absolute Integrity," a book about public corruption, said that because Spota hadn't charged Levy with a crime, allowing him to remain in office until November seems reasonable.

Still, Jacobs said that "it does sound murky without knowledge of the specifics and especially more about Mr. Levy's possible culpability. I don't think it's healthy for the public to have things resolved in such a clandestine way."

David Grandeau, former head of the New York State Temporary Commission on Lobbying, said it's hard to judge the deal because the underlying facts are unclear. "It almost sounds like a civil case rather than a criminal case," Grandeau said.

With Will Van Sant