Suffolk Exec Bellone needs to stop blaming Steve Levy and close the budget gap

Unforced errors, in sports or politics, are the worst kind. Now that Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has made the first one of his young administration -- and apologized for it -- it's time to stop looking back at the decisions of his predecessor and refocus on the top priority: fixing a three-year, $530-million budget deficit.

Blaming the immediate predecessor is one of the oldest tricks in the political playbook. But this episode took that way too far: suggesting clumsily that someone should think about prosecuting former County Executive Steve Levy for the too-rosy presentations he made to bond-rating agencies.

In public, Bellone has been doing and saying the right things: Inheriting a difficult budget, which posed the need for major layoffs, he appointed a prestigious group of fiscal pros to examine it and tell him just how big the deficit is. That committee came up with the breathtaking $530-million number. Though that gaping hole is clearly not Bellone's fault, he has wisely said that he does not want to obsess on the past, but work toward the future. So far, so good.

But at the same time, his chief deputy, Regina Calcaterra, did obsess on Levy. The result was a document, shared with a few legislators, laying out decisions that Levy had made and arguing that county officials during his term provided "deceptive and fraudulent information" to the bond markets. Investigators working for Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota showed up at the county legislature to hear the presentation by the special committee appointed by Bellone -- but Spota has no investigation of Levy's budget going on.

Enough already.

Levy bears a large share of blame for such a yawning budget gap. His eight-year mantra of no-tax-increase-at-any-cost budgets surely didn't help. But the suggestion that he ought to be prosecuted for bad budget decisions doesn't help either. In fact, it could hurt, by damaging the county's fiscal reputation.

The document from Calcaterra's office comes complete with language that sounds like a parody indictment, almost comically calling Levy "Official A." His staff says that it was solely meant to be internal, that it was just an examination of what liability the county faced, and that there was never any intention to leak it. Fine. But somehow it got out, prompting outraged cries -- and a news conference -- from Levy.

Though this shotgun blast of a memo was aimed at Levy, some of the pellets may hit county taxpayers. To the extent that the controversy raises questions about the reliability of Suffolk's budget numbers, it could well end up making the county pay even higher interest rates for the short-term borrowing that it must do, based on its deteriorating cash flow.

Bellone has made good strides in calming the combative tone of the Levy years and is working well with both parties. This episode was an unfortunate, unnecessary departure. He called it a rookie mistake. Whether the error was his or Calcaterra's is irrelevant. He's the county executive, and he's responsible.

Now Bellone has to put it behind him and let history judge Levy. He needs to unveil his plan to fix the budget, probably next week. Then get on with the difficult future. Leave the past behind.