A high-ranking official from Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy’s administration inappropriately obtained and edited an unreleased report on county hate crime, according to a complaint drafted for the Suffolk County Ethics Commission and circulated by Legis. DuWayne Gregory on January 4.
The report, a product of over a year of research by the Suffolk County Hate Crimes Task Force, was slated to be released to the public by the end of 2010. Instead, Chief Deputy County Executive Edward Dumas stands accused of cutting out a third of research in the report, including sections critical of the county executive.
“I’m no fool, I fully expected the administration to be critical of what we’ve done, because I know [Levy] has been against it,” Gregory said. “But by no circumstance did I think he would try to get a hand in drafting the report.”
Dumas denied the accusations in a Newsday article, saying, “I reviewed the report to ensure that police department initiatives and programs were accurate and complete, and made no suggested edits, additions, or deletions, except for the table of contents for the police department’s section.”
Sign this petition and call for an ethics investigation into whether or not Suffolk County officials inappropriately revised the report. The petition will be emailed to Suffok County Legislator William Lindsay, the presiding officer of the Suffolk County Legislature.
To send Presiding Officer Lindsay a fax, use 631-853-4071.
To send a fax to the chairman of the Suffolk County Ethics Commission, use 631-853-5169.
To reach the Ethics Commission via mail, send to:
Chairman, Ethics Commission
H. Lee Dennison Building
100 Veterans Memorial Highway
PO Box 6100
Hauppauge, NY 11788
