Jail chief firing unfairly reported
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy speaks at a meeting of the Long Island Business Development Council in Ronkonkoma. (June 14, 2011) Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
The article "Incensed Levy fires jail panel chief" [News, June 16] outrageously and inaccurately suggests Suffolk County has refused to release records related to the county jail.
Remarkably, it never mentioned that the county, starting in late 2010, released reams and reams of documents requested by Newsday. The only requested items not released were materials exempted because of attorney-client privilege or security, such as the jail layout plans or wall thickness.
The article states that the Judicial Facilities Agency had asked for all of these documents, yet that is contradicted by the correspondence my administration received from the JFA requesting that the county merely respond to Newsday's request, which we in fact did do.
The article also fails to mention that the JFA was carbon-copied on all of this material. It was only in May that the JFA chairman, Martin Cantor, asked that additional documents be sent directly to him. He received correspondence that the documents were being accumulated and would be delivered, although the JFA contract merely requires the county to allow for JFA members to inspect the records.
This past week I decided to replace Cantor in his unpaid, appointed position (the term of which expired), not because he has sought records. He has been corresponding as to these records for several months.
His removal was precipitated by the fact that he refused to return my phone call, which would have informed him that these materials were in the process of being delivered as he was engaging in a politically charged news conference.
Perhaps what was most disturbing in this article is that Newsday had firsthand knowledge, in an email sent by our press office, that the materials would be distributed two days later, yet never reported this important fact.
How Newsday could have written an article suggesting records were being withheld when the newspaper knew that they were being disclosed is confounding, but then accuracy and fairness were never a part of the reporting on this issue.
Editor's note: The writer is the Suffolk County executive.
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