Levy asked to share view on county financial disclosure

Suffolk Presiding Officer William Lindsay had a message for County Executive Steve Levy Tuesday: Tell us what's wrong with the county financial disclosure system.

Lindsay (D-Holbrook) sent Levy a three-paragraph letter inviting him to testify at the special committee that is investigating the Suffolk Ethics Commission.

"We invite you to appear before the committee and share with us your views on the failure of the disclosure forms and the county disclosure system which you helped shape," Lindsay wrote in the letter, also signed by committee members Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor), John M. Kennedy Jr. (R-Nesconset) and Lynne Nowick (R-St. James).

Lindsay said the letter was the group's attempt to focus attention on the Ethics Commission, which Levy says gave him permission to file a state financial disclosure form rather than the more extensive county form. The issue came to attention after Newsday reported in July that Levy's wife, Colleen West, received work from businesses that were paid millions of dollars in county contracts.

Lindsay said the committee will likely hold a day of hearings sometime in the next two weeks.

Spokesman Mark Smith said Levy is "first going to allow the group to meet on its own, and then we'll assess from there" whether to appear.

Suffolk County Comptroller Joseph Sawicki said he was troubled by recent revelations regarding the Ethics Commission and that he plans to testify when Lindsay's ethics committee convenes its first hearing.

Sawicki, a Republican, said he is concerned about an allegation Cooper made last week that Levy called him and said he had information from financial disclosures that he could use against elected officials. Levy aides have said he never threatened any legislator.

"I have serious questions about how such confidential financial information is being manipulated," Sawicki said. "Confidence in the Ethics Commission appears to be shaken, and we need to determine what kind of accountability there is."

In other ethics-related news, Smith Tuesday said Levy will veto legislation to allow Legis. Vivian Viloria-Fisher (D-East Setauket) to hire her 21-year-old daughter, Stephanie, as a $45,000-a-year legislative aide.

"Can taxpayers feel assured that an independent and unbiased accounting of time and performance is occurring when one relative is signing off on the time sheets of another?" Levy asked.

Viloria-Fisher said there will be 12 votes necessary to override a veto at the next legislative meeting Sept. 16. Smith said Levy will introduce legislation to forbid elected officials from hiring relatives to work in their offices.