Levy switches parties, announces run for governor

After weeks of speculation, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy announced on Friday that he was switching his political affiliation to the Republican Party and would be seeking the GOP nomination in the race for governor this fall.

In his announcement, Mr. Levy blasted state spending habits and trumpeted his candidacy as one that would focus primarily on a “crusade for fiscal restraint.”

“The people of this state are crying out for someone with a proven record as an executive manager who can balance budgets, make the tough decisions to protect taxpayers and save New York from financial ruin,” Mr. Levy, a lifelong Democrat, said in his speech in Albany on Friday afternoon. “I am the only candidate who has balanced a budget, who has cut spending and taxes, who has said ‘no’ to the special interests, and who has extracted concessions from public employee unions.”

The announcement by the county executive—who received an unprecedented cross-endorsement from all four major parties in Suffolk County and won 95 percent of the vote in the 2007 elections, his first reelection campaign—brought praise and support from some key Republican leaders, including Suffolk County Chairman John Jay LaValle and state GOP Chairman Ed Cox, both of whom stood beside Mr. Levy at Friday’s press conferences in Manhattan and in Albany announcing his plans.

“Steve Levy is a Republican—he was never a Democrat in the first place,” Mr. LaValle said in an interview on Tuesday. “He’s one of the most fiscally conservative politicians in the state. We’re in the middle of a financial crisis the last time I checked, and that’s what we need. He’s got the moxie to get this state back on track.”

Mr. Levy has been county executive since 2003. He was spending this week traveling the state to drum up support from other Republican leaders and financial backers.

Mr. LaValle said that Mr. Levy’s announcement has brought a flood of support from Suffolk County businessmen who said they are eager to see his fiscal management at the state level.

Mr. Levy’s entry into the race also brought immediate attacks from Rick Lazio, the former Long Island congressman and senatorial candidate who had been the most talked about name on the Republican gubernatorial dance card until last week. That Mr. LaValle and Mr. Cox stood beside Mr. Levy at his announcement rallies meant that his entry had already started to siphon some of the party support for Mr. Lazio, who has not held public office since giving up his seat in the House to run for the Senate against Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2000.

Even as Mr. Levy’s press conference on Friday was ongoing, a statement went out from Lazio’s campaign headquarters painting his newest opponent as a “liberal Democrat” and champion of tax hikes and the costly economic stimulus package promoted by President Obama.

The release included a profanity 
laced transcript of a wiretapped 
phone call, part of an investigation in 2004, in which Mr. Levy speaks critically of the Brookhaven Town Republican Party.

“Steve is not a Republican. He will be registered as a Democrat on election day. He will be unable to vote in the Republican primary,” the statement from Mr. Lazio reads. “He is a supporter of Barack Obama and has been a close ally of [State Majority Leader] Shelly Silver, and he has voted for the largest tax increase in New York State history. He even said that the Obama stimulus package was ‘manna from heaven’ that would ‘save lives.’”

If Mr. Levy were to fall short in his bid for the governor’s office, Mr. LaValle said that he would be a welcome candidate for another term in the county executive’s seat, this time as a Republican. He would not speculate whether the Democratic Party could be expected to cross-endorse as the Republicans did in the last campaign.

Suffolk County Democratic Party Chair Rich Schaffer said the party will oppose a Republican Mr. Levy should he be on the county ballot again in 2011. Mr. Schaffer said he is meeting with the Democratic Committee this week to ask their permission to start seeking candidates for a 2011 election, either for a special ballot to fill Mr. Levy’s seat should he win the governor’s race, or to oppose his longtime friend in a November general election.

“As a friend of his for 25 years, I’m extremely disappointed in this decision—but nothing surprises me when it comes to elected officials,” Mr. Schaffer said. “The comments I’ve gotten from within the party already are that we need to think about getting a strong Democratic candidate ready.”