Each day we seem to learn more about the fiscal shenanigans that have led Nassau County to the brink of bankruptcy. Controlled for virtually all of its 100-year history by the Republican Party, Nassau County is possibly the worst run political institution in the country, according to The New York Times. The county's books are a mess and its credit rating is one level away from junk bond status. Nassau has the highest sales tax rate in the nation. Its debt is more than twice as much per capita than any other county in the state.

Nassau's budget process apparently works like this: If an agency that spent $5 million one year asked for $10 million the next, County Executive Thomas Gulotta might cut the request back to $6 million and then proudly report he had achieved a $4 million saving.

The transfer of the county's health insurance contract to a politically connected company led to a $50 million cost overrun. A newly released report reveals that a Republican businessman concocted the health insurance deal that cost the county $40 million.

Gulotta's chief deputy, who recommended the insurance plan, received $112,500 in consulting fees from the insurance agency, which was headed by Suffolk County's former Republican chairman. The chairman was paid a commission of $50,000-a-month, which was rolled into a $100,000-a-month consulting fee paid to a company run by the commissioner's son.

Nassau Comptroller Fred Parola, himself a Republican, said that Nassau County has been "out-foxed and out-negotiated for years."

Everyone knows that Nassau County is badly in need of money. Meanwhile, Hempstead Supervisor Richard Guardino boasts of having a $50 million budget surplus, even after spending $2 million of taxpayers' money on his losing battle against district elections. Since the Town of Hempstead is run by the same Republican Party as Nassau County, why doesn't Guardino lend that $50 million to Gulotta to help him out of his financial mess? After all, what are friends for!

George Rand