PV Supervisor Confirms Run for Putnam DA
It may be more than a year away, but Bob Tendy is wasting no time on working to attain the seat of Putnam County District Attorney in 2015.
Tendy, in an interview with The Putnam Examiner, confirmed he is going for the office of District Attorney when the seat is up for grabs in 2015, which would set up a primary with Republican incumbent Adam Levy 15 months from now if Levy chooses to run. Tendy, who is currently an attorney in private practice and the supervisor for Putnam Valley, hammered away at Levy’s alleged involvement in the Alexandru Hossu case and his frosty relationship with Sheriff Don Smith. He also stated the responsibilities of the DA’s position match well with his skill set.
Speculation has been rampant about Tendy seeking the Putnam DA post and he has been openly critical of Levy. The longtime Putnam resident said he plans on making a formal announcement about his run shortly after the Fourth of July weekend.
Tendy said residents in the county need to have “complete, unquestioned faith” in their district attorney, something Tendy believes is lacking in Putnam.
“I don’t like what I’ve been seeing from the District Attorney’s office,” he said. “I think it puts a black mark on law enforcement and I think it makes our county look bad. It makes the legal system in our county look bad.”
The main point Tendy brought up against Levy was his alleged involvement in the Hossu rape case, even though Levy recused himself from the case because Hossu was his personal trainer and friend. Levy has acknowledged paying for part of the defense fee for Hossu. Also, Levy’s brother-in-law, Daniel Mentzer, was hired as Hossu’s attorney after the prior lawyer left the case.
News media reports also indicated Levy was actively trying to inject himself into the case and the defense strategy, while also criticizing the Westchester District Attorney who prosecuted the case in emails to the former defense attorney Robert Altchiler.
The alleged involvement was enough for lead prosecutor Fred Green to ask the judge residing over the case to look into Levy’s actions, though Justice Lester Adler deemed nothing improper. Several local officials also called for the New York Attorney General’s office to investigate Levy and some even called for him to resign, including Tendy. It was never publicly confirmed if any investigation took place by the state.
Hossu was acquitted and some jurors said after the trial was over that he was “100 percent innocent.” Right now, Hossu is fighting against being departed back to his home country of Romania because when he was arrested his work visa had expired.
Tendy said it troubles him that not too many people have been discussing the case or scrutinizing Levy over the allegations. He even said he started considering running for DA once he read news reports about Levy and the case, but stated that’s not his only concern with Levy, also noting “that’s the most serious of them.”
Other concerns Tendy cited were Levy’s poor relationship with Sheriff Smith, the hiring of a personal publicist out of his own pocket that was originally done without county knowledge, and the resignation of chief assistant district attorney Christopher York, “which seemed to come out of nowhere.”
“There are a whole bunch of issues that should not be issues in a district attorney’s office that is running smoothly and professionally,” he said. “Too many.”
Levy declined an interview request through a spokesperson.
Commenting on the contention between Levy and Smith, Tendy said he believes the fault lies with Levy. Levy is suing Smith for $5 million over defamation of character for sending out a press release that clams Levy was interfering with the investigation of Hossu. In April, Smith filed a $5 million defamation lawsuit against Levy for claims Levy made in a newspaper article about Smith.
Tendy said he has a “very good relationship” with Smith and even said he had a good relationship with Levy, and voted for him both times when Levy ran in 2007 and 2011, though both races were uncontested.
Tendy worked for the Manhattan DA’s office for four years up until 1993 and worked for a Wall Street firm for a year after that before getting into private practice as a criminal defense attorney, which is what he still does now.
Tendy said as the town supervisor, he’s has the administrative knack to properly run and organize the district attorney’s office. But one aspect of the job that might be different from how other elected district attorneys run their office is the idea Tendy would be going inside the courtroom to prosecute cases. District attorneys lose touch with the various workers involved in the legal system from police officers and the defense bar to court clerks and judges, Tendy said.
“You have to be willing to have some skin in the game, you can’t sit on the throne above it all,” Tendy said.
Currently, Tendy is filing the appropriate paperwork with the Putnam County Board of Elections, which should be done in the next few days and then an announcement will be held at a location to be determined. And then Tendy’s early bird start to his campaign will officially get off the ground.
“I’m very confident I can do an excellent job as Putnam County District Attorney,” Tendy said. “I think the job is exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
