Pol: Levy offered jobs before key vote

Suffolk Legis. Jay Schneiderman said County Executive Steve Levy offered him high-level county jobs in the week before a crucial vote on a new legislative presiding officer. Had Schneiderman accepted the job, it could have blocked a Levy critic from being re-elected to the post.

If Schneiderman (I-Montauk) had resigned to take a county job, his exit could have helped Republican Levy and Suffolk Republican chairman John Jay LaValle, who legislative sources in both parties say wanted to prevent Legis. William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) from getting 10 votes for another term as presiding officer Monday. Had the legislature been unable to agree on a presiding officer, the choice could have gone to Republican County Clerk Judith Pascale, who, by law, could choose a new legislative leader on Jan. 15.

Despite the attempt, Lindsay won re-election to a sixth one-year term on a 12-1-4 vote after a frequent Levy ally, Legis. Steven Stern, backed Lindsay, as did Schneiderman.

Schneiderman, who had expressed interest in getting a county job last month, said Levy later offered him two high-level county posts, starting with the $125,000-a-year job of commissioner of energy and environment, which he turned down. Among the reasons he gave Levy for declining the offer, Schneiderman said, was that he did not want to commute from his home in Montauk.

Asked for quick decision

Then, on the Tuesday before the vote, Schneiderman said, Levy offered him a deputy parks commissioner post in Montauk, but said he told Schneiderman he would have to decide within 48 hours and resign his legislative seat.

Levy declined to be interviewed, and his spokesman Mark Smith would not say whether Levy ever offered the lawmaker either job, saying only there were "private conversations" and "nothing materialized." He added the talks had "no tie whatsoever" to the presiding officer election.

Lindsay said he believed that there was "an absolute connection" between the job offers and the leadership vote. "I don't think the executive branch has any right to interfere with another branch . . . That's just wrong."

The parks job pays about $95,000 a year, Schneiderman said. But its main role was to run an environmental education center that had no funding, and that's why, he said, he turned it down.

Schneiderman, a former Republican and now Independence Party member, said Levy never raised the presiding officer election or asked for his vote. But Schneiderman said Levy emphasized that he wanted a quick decision on the second offer. "He said he did not want to fill a high-paying job in the year he was running for election," Schneiderman said. He said he turned down the second offer on Dec. 30.

Smith said it was Schneiderman who expressed interest in the environmental commissioner's job to the exiting commissioner, Carrie Meek Gallagher, which in turn led to direct talks between Levy and Schneiderman. Smith also said Schneiderman raised the idea of a "park job on the East End."

Schneiderman acknowledged speaking to Gallagher about his interest in her job. He also said he talked to Levy about a potential parks position, but said it was Levy who offered the deputy commissioner's job.

Possible vote impact

Schneiderman also said he was aware the job offers could have an impact on the presiding officer vote, if he were to leave.

Schneiderman said he was also called by LaValle, who wanted to talk about the presiding officer contest but never linked a job with any impending vote. "He was hoping I would abstain from the vote," said Schneiderman. "But there was never a quid pro quo." LaValle did not return calls for comment.