Free Republic

Andrew Cuomo, gearing up for a late April announcement, breathed a loud sigh of relief over the weekend after hard-charging Democratic-turned-Republican Steve Levy failed to win Conservative Party backing for his new gubernatorial campaign. While Attorney General Cuomo enjoys a wide lead over all comers in the race for governor, he and his advisers believe the high-energy "and a little crazy" Suffolk County executive is a far more dangerous GOP opponent than former Rep. Rick Lazio, the undistinguished current Conservative favorite, or little-known Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino, Democratic insiders say. "There is a lot of anger out there in New...

Steve Levy has garnered more than his share of detractors in seven years as Suffolk County executive -- but his supporters see that as a sign of his courage in taking on special interests and fighting sacred cows to trim the bloat out of his county's budget. Now that Levy, a Democrat, is running for governor to challenge presumptive Democrat nominee, Atty. General Andrew Cuomo with Republican backing, that independent streak is what his boosters say is needed to shake up the dysfunctional state Capitol. "I guess being a Democrat, if you're going to go cutting positions and stuff, Democratic...

ALBANY — The campaign for the Republican nomination for governor was blown wide open on Thursday as the party’s presumptive frontrunner, Rick A. Lazio, lost key support after a last-minute entry into the race by a conservative Long Island Democrat. The Democrat, Steve Levy, was quickly amassing Republican endorsements, just hours after he said he would switch parties and seek the Republican nomination. Mr. Lazio, seeking to contain the damage and play down the growing number of defections from his campaign, hit back on Thursday, calling Mr. Levy, the Suffolk County executive, a “rank opportunist.” “The people of New York...

The New York Republican Party, no stranger to controversy in the past year, has a new internal battle brewing over its gubernatorial nominee that could lead to a New York-23 like split for the GOP. Rick Lazio, the former Long Island Congressman who unsuccessfully challenged Hillary Clinton in the 2000 U.S. Senate race, appeared well on his way to securing the nomination. Endorsements included former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Gov. George Pataki, as well as a slew of county chairmen and local officials. But others in the party, said to be concerned over what is described as...

Southern Poverty Law Center smears Steve Levy, promotes lawlessness Posted by Billy Kess on Saturday, September 05, 2009 9:24:47 PM The Southern Poverty Law Center has recently put out a so-called study concluding that Long Island's Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is somehow indirectly responsible for the rash of anti-Hispanic biased crimes on Long Island. Of course, this is just  another pathetic attempt to silence the politicians who want to do something about these illegal aliens who are destroying our communities. They figure as long as they put the pressure on, not only will it get Levy to stop standing...

About 20 Mexican immigrants set up a "tent city" Thursday next to a Farmingville house shuttered by Brookhaven Town officials because it was overcrowded, and an activist gave them supplies for a sign calling their community "Levyville," in reference to Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy. The tenants of 196 Berkshire Dr., most of them day laborers but including four youngsters ages 10 to 17, said they spent Wednesday night sleeping in four tents on the property or on a concrete slab next to the house. A Latino activist, the Rev. Allan Ramirez, gave the immigrants sheets and spray paint for...

Brookhaven town officials Friday launched another volley in their ongoing war on illegal housing, ordering the closing of three residences they said housed as many as 90 tenants. In documents filed in State Supreme Court in Riverhead, the town alleged that the conditions in the houses, all zoned for single-family -- one in Ronkonkoma and two in Farmingville -- were filthy and overcrowded, with fire hazards such as exposed wiring and blocked exits. The homeowners each face possible $10,000 fines for violations of town codes, officials said. Two of the homeowners could not be reached for comment, but one said...

Waving signs and banging sticks on plastic buckets like drums, about 200 people, mainly undocumented Mexican immigrants, marched through Farmingville yesterday demanding the right not to be evicted without notice and thrown into the street.'snip'The immigrants and their supporters, including priest and activists, were protesting the eviction by authorities last week of at least 28 Mexican day laborers from an overcrowded Farmingville house, leaving them homeless.'snip'[Steve] Levy shot back yesterday, saying his campaign is supported by wide swaths of people fed up with overcrowded houses in Farmingville. "The 99 percent of the county that supports the closing of this hellhole...

The man from Mexico City said he came from Farmingville looking for work so he could give his wife and two children a better life back home.Yesterday, he found himself homeless in the land that was supposed to fuel his dream. He was among dozens of Mexican day laborers evicted from 33 Woodmont Place in a crackdown on overcrowded housing by authorities."We're going to sleep in the street," the man, shaken by the eviction and unwilling to give his name, said in Spanish. Another worker, Francisco Penelopez, 27, summed up the immigrants' grim mood when he said, "This isn't the...