Levy orders closer look at fired official's work records

County Executive Steve Levy yesterday ordered a review of fired deputy labor Commissioner Lawrence Cooley's job performance and contacts.

Levy also said he would turn over to charity $8,828 in contributions that Cooley made to his campaign, according to his spokesman.

"We are shocked and extremely disturbed by these revelations and terminated Mr. Cooley immediately upon hearing facts within his testimony," Levy said yesterday. Levy declined to be interviewed.

Levy fired Cooley, 69, of Greenlawn, on Wednesday after Newsday inquired about Cooley's appearance Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan at the trial of Joseph Olivieri, 55, formerly of the Association of Wall-Ceiling and Carpentry Industries union and a reputed Genovese crime family soldier.

Also on Wednesday, Olivieri was convicted of lying about his ties to the Genovese crime family and a contractor who was defrauding the union benefit fund.

Testifying with immunity, Cooley admitted making "cash payoffs" to officers of the carpenters union to "make jobs run smoothly" at the drywall company he started in 1981, and in exchange used as much as 90 percent nonunion labor to "make a larger profit."

It is not clear when Cooley made the payoffs.

Among those Cooley testified that he paid off was Michael Forde, head of the District Council of Carpenters, who was one of eight mob-connected contractors and corrupt union leaders who have already pleaded guilty.

Cooley, the $116,000-a-year deputy, testified that Olivieri set up and took part in a meeting between Cooley and James Murray, owner of On Par Contracting, at an IHOP restaurant in Hicksville in late 2004 where Murray offered to take over Cooley's failing drywall company.

Yesterday, Dan Aug, Levy's spokesman, said Cooley called the administration the day before he was scheduled to give testimony: "We were only told that he would be testifying at a federal trial and that he was a witness for the prosecution," Aug said.

Levy officials said the commissioner of labor and the county attorney's office will review Cooley's performance. Levy aides said Cooley "oversaw living wage and lawful hiring laws" and that he worked with the Department of Public Works to ensure that "prevailing wage requirements were fulfilled" on county contracts.

Democratic officials said Cooley was initially a candidate to be commissioner, a job that eventually went to Robert Dow, a former IBEW Local 25 official.

Several Democratic and Republican officials said Cooley's appointment was a reward to the union for its strong backing of Levy in his first county executive race in 2003. Presiding Officer William Lindsay, himself a former union leader, said, "He was pushed by the carpenters."

Cooley was not a carpenters union member, officials said, adding that he was a drywall contractor who was part of a trade association that had contracts with unions. Cooley was hired in March 2004 as a senior deputy commissioner, No. 2 in the department.

Levy aides said the recommendation for Cooley's appointment came from his transition team's labor and transportation committee. They added that Levy "does not now have or has he ever had a personal relationship with Mr. Cooley."