Levy: 'No time to dwell' on troubles

Refusing to close the door on a future in politics, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said Friday that "time will tell" whether his decision to not seek re-election in the wake of questions about his fundraising spells an end to his political career.

In his first public comments since announcing that he would not run for a third term, Levy said in an hourlong interview that he is considering working in academia or at a think tank once he leaves. "I'm a policy wonk," he said.

For now, he said he is focusing on holding down taxes in the face of state budget cuts. Levy declined to discuss the investigation into his campaign fundraising by District Attorney Thomas Spota.

Levy said that before returning to the office Friday, he had been in the Boston area with his wife, Colleen West, and his 25-year-old stepdaughter Erin, who is attending Harvard Medical School. Levy said he took time to shop and spend time with his family.

As for his chances of again holding elective office, Levy said he thought people may feel differently about him when all the facts surrounding the investigation are known.

"Time will tell," he said during an hourlong interview in his office in Hauppauge. "Right now no facts have come out. People are speculating to fill a vacuum, which is understandable." He declined to elaborate, saying he did not want to jeopardize Spota's inquiry.

But Levy acknowledged that he might be leaving the limelight.

"In politics, you can be yesterday's news very quickly," Levy, 51, said, adding that he will focus during the last six months of his second term on "guiding this ship through very treacherous waters," a reference to big state budget cuts. He predicted school districts will raise taxes and said, "I want to make sure that doesn't happen at the county level."

He downplayed questions about his lame-duck status and his ability to deal effectively with the county legislature. He noted that he had accomplished much of his cost-cutting administratively, including removal of Suffolk Police from highway patrol duties.

Levy sat at a table in the conference room of his Hauppauge office. In front of him was a stack of correspondence, and he was flanked by his public relations director and his chief policy adviser. He appeared upbeat, and maintained a smile that only faded when the conversation turned to questions around his fundraising.

Levy would not discuss Spota's investigation. Spota said he had discovered "serious issues with regard to fundraising and the manner in which it was conducted." Levy agreed to turn his $4.1 million campaign treasury over to the district attorney.

Looking toward his immediate future after his term ends, Levy said work in academia or with a think tank would allow him to remain involved in public issues.

Levy also sought to downplay the personal toll leaving office would have on him. He said he had only been "50/50" about running for re-election this fall anyway, after a "grueling" but unsuccessful run for governor last year and the knowledge that many incumbents suffer a "third-term curse." He said he'd expressed his uncertainty over another campaign to those close to him. "It wears on you physically and it wears on your family," he said.

He conceded that some might doubt his indecision about running. "People may not believe it's true," he said. Frank Tantone, Islip Republican chairman, said Levy had screened as a candidate for re-election on March 9 at the party's Bay Shore headquarters. "He screened as if he were running," said Tantone. "Did he say . . . 'I'm running?' No." But Levy " . . . gave his usual Steve Levy fiery speech and very frankly he won a lot of them [the audience] over."

In thinking about his decision not to run again, Levy said he took solace from the fact that, "I've seen many people who've lost elections say several weeks later that it was the best thing that ever happened to them."

He said he was looking forward.

"There's no time to dwell on things; there's so much on the table to deal with," Levy said.

Contemplating the legacy he wants to leave behind, he said, "I hope that people will look back on these eight years, and realize that while others raised taxes and faced fiscal Armageddon, we in Suffolk kept taxes and spending under control."

With Rick Brand