Remembering Mike

From Oliver Mackson: I hesitate to throw a bucket of cold water on warm season's greetings, but I'm glad this year is over. It's been a tough one in Middletown. Pick your reason: It's been a tough year anyplace where people still put out a newspaper every day. Rupert Murdoch bought us and isn't saying where he'll flip us. But the big one is that we lost Mike Levine, way too soon, right smack at the beginning of the year, on Jan. 14. He was only 54.

You could pull up any column and see that he could do things with language, sense of place and a finely-honed sense of outrage, like when he scorched Mr. Mid-Hudson Power Broker himself:

The Times Herald-Record

THICK SKIN SHOULD COME WITH THE TERRITORY

Wednesday, March 29, 1989

By MIKE LEVINE

County Executive Louis Heimbach said last week he is not running for a fourth term.

Say it ain't true, Lou. Say you're not leaving without saying goodbye to me.

I'm lost. I'm Winfield without Steinbrenner, Costello without Abbott. And yet, I can say this truthfully:

Louie, I hardly knew ye.

Maybe that's because ye hasn't talked to me for six years.

The silent treatment started shortly after I began the column. I wrote something about the Emperor having thin skin.

Your Majesty hasn't returned a phone call since.

Over the years, I've heard a few reports. How smoke came out of your ears after I referred to you as Landfill Louie. How you cursed after a reference to King Louis I. The final straw came after your big pay raise a few years ago. Readers of this column voted that act worthy of the Skunky of the Year award.

That was it. I was to blame.

All this was no never mind to me. Frankly, it was good for business.

I became known in the county as the guy Lou Heimbach wasn't talking to. It was like I was some daredevil, jumping out of a plane without a parachute. People would walk up to me and ask, "you still got your job?"

There was something sad in that wonder. This is a free country. Why should it be such a big deal to criticize a public official?

It reminded me why I got on your back in the first place.

This county suffers from too much authority worship. In plain English, the joint is scared stiff.

Go to the mall and ask people something harmless like what their favorite TV show is. Bet you half the people won't give you their name. "I could lose my job," they'll say. "I don't want to cause any trouble."

Nowhere is this timid, fearful attitude more pronounced than in county circles.

People think you're king, Lou Heimbach. They fear you.

You hired Joe Braun as your chief henchman, a guy whose high-handed arrogance makes H.R. Haldemann sound like Mister Rogers. He set a poisonous, intimidating tone for your administration.

You have to control every last little detail.

This means you rarely empower your department heads. You hire "yes" people. Your meetings are like a monologue in the Grand Canyon. Lots of echoes.

This isn't just me talking. It's them talking privately. It's the independent Hay report talking about the poor communication and lack of delegation in Orange County government.

The health department was allowed to twist slowly in the wind for more than a year because you couldn't get a commissioner. It wasn't the money. People didn't want to work for this county.

Among county workers, morale was disastrous. Ordinary citizens looked like the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion trembling before the Wizard of Oz. You can't run a proper democracy when folks are running around scared to speak up. You can't even run a proper county that way.

Listen, Lou, it's never been anything personal. I appreciate your intelligence. I never questioned your integrity.

But people must start talking up around here. We had an entire generation of county residents forced into exile because they couldn't afford a house. We've dug ourselves an environmental gravesite with our garbage.

We better have everyone involved in that discussion. You may not like what some people said about your role in that. That's fine.

Respond. Tell them why you see it differently. Give me hell. Give the public a chance to hear the exchange of opinions.

Everyone in the public eye has to be big enough to take shots as well as give them. You can't control criticism. And you never know. Another opinion might be right.

The next county executive may not have your smarts. But if he or she has a thick skin and a pair of open ears, this county will be headed in the right direction.

***

What Mike Levine did with his reporter's skills, Oscar Peterson did with music. You could listen to anything the man played and hear speed, power and style in a package that no one else ever brought to the piano. Oscar Peterson died this week.

It's been a tough year.