Introducing Viewpoints

Today, we’re highlighting our editorial on a mystery that has puzzled Long Islanders for years – the secret agreement in 2011 between then-Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and then-District Attorney Thomas Spota that ended Levy’s political career.

Levy, who agreed to forfeit a $4 million campaign war chest and not seek office again in exchange for Spota agreeing not to prosecute him on unspecified charges, said in legal papers filed in 2021 that releasing the agreement would “devastate” his political career. Spota was convicted later on unrelated corruption charges. Now, current DA Ray Tierney is opposing disclosure of the deal. Find out here why the editorial board says the public’s right to know eclipses Levy’s right to privacy and why we concluded: “Contrary to Tierney’s claim, this disclosure can help the justice system, not hinder it.” 

Interesting fact: A Newsday lawsuit seeking the agreement under the Freedom of Information Law was boosted by a conversation after Spota’s conviction between Levy and Newsday’s editorial board editor Rita Ciolli in which Levy said he, too, was a target of Spota and that he had wanted to “get this off my chest for eight years.”

- Michael Dobie