The big news on LI today is Suffolk's Steve Levy pulling local cops off the highways in a blink-off with the state. Janison gets the essence of it in his column:
"Heard the cliche that it's not about the money but the principle of the thing? Well, this really is about the money, and in a sputtering economy, about urgency. Principle is more of a debating point."
It's an effective gambit, as long as no one gets killed by some drunk driver swerving un-stopped on some lightly patrolled section of highway. If that happens, facts won't matter, and it'll seem like an incredibly stupid gambit.
Levy and Tom Suozzi started out pursuing this issue of highway patrols and who pays for them together. Now, Suozzi has dropped the threat, while Levy forges ahead.
There's probably a lot of reasons for that.
We're told that the Nassau police contracts have manning provisions that mean he has less to gain financially than Levy. Also, Suozzi's got a lot of chips right now on his property-tax-cap proposal -- which requires playing nice with Paterson, not confronting him.
And, in the long view, Suozzi has grander ambitions. He's tried the bad-boy, pain-in-the-rear approach, and concluded that it's not the best way to achieve them.