I was truly surprised to read, in Judy Jacobs' column titled "Considering Tax on Cigarettes," her statement that "I have contacted county executives from all 56 counties in the state..."

There are 62 counties in New York, so how could the Presiding Officer of the Nassau County Legislature have forgotten about six of them? And which six? Perhaps Suffolk, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, The Bronx, and Manhattan?

However, I was even more appalled to read her claim that she has "spent the past five years looking under every rock for savings," and that she wants to look for "...acceptable ways to raise more revenue that won't be too onerous on the residents of Nassau County...that will help taxpayers, not hurt them."

This, from the same person who deliberately hid $207,000 in raises for the 10 Democrats in the Nassau County Legislature, including $31,000 for herself, in the budget for 2007.

And her only excuse was similar to one that parents and schoolteachers never accept from children: She only did it because the Republicans did it first.

Richard Siegelman