At its best, Robert McMillan's article on "A Disingenuous Budget Process" is itself disingenuous. At its worst, it is simply ludicrous. He must have had to dig deep down inside his rabidly Republican heart to come up with this one. To lay blame regarding budgetary tomfoolery on anyone else but the outgoing Republican administration is--well, it's simply embarrassing for Mr. McMillan.

Although his essays never stray far from toadying to the Republican party line, for this one he has had to literally bend over backwards.

The fact that his article is positioned directly next to Tom Gulotta's farewell message adds an extra dollop of bathos. As Robert deNiro once said, "Are you talkin' to me?" Mr. McMillan, are you talking to those of us in Nassau County who sat and watched our county slide toward bankruptcy these past 14 years? Are you talking to us when you leave out the part about the high-level Nassau County Republican administrator who was taken out in handcuffs for playing footsie with our money? Are you serious when you blame Democrats for "political expediency"? If that is true, then they learned it at the knee of the master---Master Thomas Gulotta ... and his political cronies and hacks. Please, Mr. McMillan, stand up straight. Please lay blame when and where it applies. I know it's tough to admit a Republican administration blew it, but when you blow it this sky high, you simply have to lay low and keep quiet until it all blows over.

Jane Thomas