Mixed Reaction to Smith’s Retraction and Apology
Following revelations that Putnam County Sheriff Don Smith made false statements about former district attorney Adam Levy in 2013, his Republican opponent has called on him to step down, while it appears the Republican committee is still sticking with Smith as he runs for another term.
Smith admitted in a public letter last Tuesday he was untruthful when he claimed in 2013 Levy interfered in the Alexandru Hossu rape case and Hossu resided at Levy’s house in Southeast. The settlement reached will result in the county paying $125,000 and Smith paying $25,000 out of his own pocket to Levy.
Smith, a Republican, is running for a fifth term in office this year.
While public opinion among elected officials has been relatively mum, Smith’s primary opponent is calling on him to leave office following the shocking statement.
Patterson resident and Republican candidate for sheriff Andrew DeStefano said he believes Smith and the sheriff’s department have lost credibility with residents as a result of his inaccurate statements.
“It destroys their credibly because it gives credence to every false allegation that’s ever been made, every false claim ever been made,” he said. “Now people are going to look and say ‘look what happen in this case.’” There’s no room for false statements in a police department. None.”
On Tuesday, DeStefano, a former NYPD captain, wouldn’t go as far to say Smith should resign. But he changed his mind Thursday after further consideration and held a press conference in Carmel demanding Smith either resign now or drop out of the race and not seek another term.
DeStefano said he would never have run if the petition forgery conviction against him wasn’t vacated earlier this year because a cloud should not hover over the top law enforcement official in the county.
“This is going to be hanging over the sheriff ’s department as long as Don Smith is sheriff,” DeStefano said.
Smith has made clear he is remaining in the race. He was endorsed by the GOP committee last month.
Putnam GOP Committee chairman Tony Scannapieco said he still supports the sheriff and believes the incumbent has done a great job in office. Smith was going up against Levy who had unlimited resources, Scannapieco said.
“I think the sheriff did the best he could with this,” Scannapieco said. “I don’t think this lawsuit should have even came forward.”
Scannapieco said he hasn’t heard from any committee members collecting signatures for Smith’s ballot petition since the news broke earlier in the week. He scoffed at DeStefano’s suggestion that the sheriff either resign or drop out of the race.
“He’s got nothing else to do,” Scannapieco said of DeStefano holding a press conference demanding Smith leave office.
District Attorney Bob Tendy said cases are settled for a number of reasons, but stressed he didn’t know anything about the civil matter and never read the press releases Smith’s office put out in 2013. Tendy and Smith were political allies when Tendy knocked off Levy in 2015.
“It doesn’t affect me or my office at all,” Tendy said, “I can still work with the sheriff, every police department and police agency there is. What happens in a civil manner doesn’t affect how we go about our business in the criminal law enforcement area.”
Putnam Valley Supervisor Sam Oliverio said he spoke with Smith the day after the apology letter was released and said Smith told him “sometimes there are situations you need to bend to the wind so you don’t break.” The two men have known each other for decades and Oliverio was also critical of Levy when he was a legislator.
Oliverio, a Democrat, referred to Smith as an “honorable man” and called his admission of relaying untruthful information a blemish on an otherwise pristine record. He wondered if there was more to the situation than what is publicly known at this point and said he still has faith in Smith but was disappointed this entire ordeal unraveled.
“I believe he would not have apologized unless there were extenuating circumstances involved in this,” Oliverio said. “He admitted he was wrong so we have to take that at face value.”
County Democratic Committee chairman Jim Borkowski slammed Smith for the untrue statements and stressed the settlement monies are being shouldered by taxpayers and not the county insurance company. He warned the ordeal with Smith is only going to get worse.
Hossu, the personal trainer of Levy who was arrested for rape and later found innocent, has filed a $45 million lawsuit against the sheriff ’s department for being falsely arrested and stuck in jail for a year.
“The next part of this case is Mr. Hossu’s federal civil rights case against Sheriff Smith. Sheriff Smith’s apology makes Mr. Hossu’s civil rights case a slam-dunk,” Borkowski, who ran against Smith as a Republican in 2009, said in an email. “This will cost us millions of dollars, perhaps as much as the entire annual Putnam County budget. We will all be paying dearly for Sheriff Smith’s lack of integrity.”
