Timeline: Steve Levy's year of turmmoil

March 19, 2010 – Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy announces he is leaving the Democratic Party and becoming a Republican to run for governor.

April 8, 2010 – Newsday reports that Levy, a longtime advocate of campaign finance reform, collected more than $200,000 in campaign contributions from law firms and title companies doing business with the county.

April 13, 2010 – Newsday reports that a company associated with a longtime Levy friend, Ethan Ellner, got more than $85,000 in county title work, on Levy’s recommendation, despite the fact that Ellner had a federal tax evasion conviction, lost his law license for more than a year and was cited for “unconscionable trade practices” by the county’s consumer affairs officials.

June 2, 2010 – Levy fails to garner enough votes to win the Republican nomination, which goes to former Rep. Rick Lazio.

June 7, 2010 – The Suffolk County district attorney’s office subpoenas Levy’s financial disclosure records after Newsday inquiries asking why Levy filed a different form than the more detailed county form filled out each year by roughly 650 county employees.

June 22, 2010 – Legislative Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) forms a special legislative committee to investigate the county Ethics Commission, which reviews financial disclosure forms.

July 8, 2010 – Newsday reports that court reporting firms owned by Levy’s wife, Colleen West, have regularly received work from businesses with millions of dollars in county contracts.

Aug. 2, 2010 – After weeks of pressure, Levy files county disclosure forms and releases them. The forms do not include some basic information about his wife’s business.

Aug. 17, 2010 – Just before the Suffolk Legislature votes to hire former federal prosecutor Joseph Conway as special counsel for its ethics investigation, Legis. Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor) says Levy threatened to reveal information from Cooper’s disclosure form if he voted for the probe.

Sept. 21, 2010 – Levy rips the legislative committee’s investigation into the Ethics Commission, calling it “politically motivated in an effort to discredit the county executive.”

Oct. 7, 2010 – The Legislature’s probe stalls as negotiations over turning over records break down and the county comptroller refuses to pay the bills submitted by the commission’s attorney because the attorney refused to document his bills.

Oct. 13, 2010 – Newsday reports that some ethics commissioners and staffers have made campaign contributions to the very officials they regulate.

Oct. 25, 2010 – The legislative committee subpoenas records from the Ethics Commission. The commission attorneys go to court to fight the subpoenas.

Dec. 3, 2010 – The county Ethics Commission refuses to comply with Suffolk County Comptroller Joseph Sawicki’s subpoenas for records, and Sawicki directs his lawyer to file contempt charges against the commission’s executive director, Alfred Lama.

Jan. 4, 2011 – Newsday reports that “a high elected official” received cash payments for public work awarded to a title company, according to court papers.

Jan. 11, 2011 – Newsday reports that Legis. Jay Schneiderman said Levy offered him high-level county jobs in the week before a crucial vote on a new legislative presiding officer and insisted he resign immediately if he accepted a job.

Jan. 19, 2011 – A key witness in the insurance fraud trial of former Legis. George Guldi told prosecutors that he was asked for a “bribe” by an official in order to receive county work, according to court documents.

Jan. 20, 2011 – A state Supreme Court judge rejects the Ethics Commission’s efforts to block the legislative probe and rules that the committee has the right to subpoena commission records.

Jan. 28, 2011 – Newsday reports that the district attorney's office has been looking into county campaign contributions.

Jan. 28, 2011 – Guldi alleges in an affidavit that Levy used his political influence to provide protection for the criminal acts of a key witness in the insurance fraud trial against Guldi.