EDITORIALS
Time to End Bad Budgeting
Even after being sharply and repeatedly chastised for years of budget mismanagement, East Hampton Town’s supervisor and top finance officer have once again shown why they are not up to the task. In the years since Bill McGintee took over in Town Hall, the pass-the-buck budget practices of the previous administration were allowed to descend into chaos. There’s plenty of blame to be shared by both supervisors for the current debacle. Mr. McGintee’s predecessor, Jay Schneiderman, and his budget maestro, Len Bernard, have been accused of underfunding their spending plans and blowing through the town’s surpluses in order to keep the tax rate artificially low. However, at least they had a clue about what they were doing, even if was ultimately deceptive.

Intended Irony
On a related matter, Debra Foster, a former East Hampton Town councilwoman, has been meeting with a secret group of advisers to come up with their own, alternative budget. This is a weird undertaking made all the stranger because Ms. Foster has refused to publicly identify her advisers. To add a layer of irony, Ms. Foster has called for transparency from the town in preparing the budget while, at the same time, acting as an apparent front for a hidden coterie.

Black-Box Bailout
Bloomberg News announced this week that it had sued the Federal Reserve over its refusal to name names in its handing out almost $2 trillion in emergency loans. This is consistent with the way Washington has defied the Freedom of Information Law under the Bush presidency. However, it is an about-face for Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, who, along with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, made pledges of transparency on the financial industry bailout.

COLUMNS
Connections | Helen S. Rattray
What’s in a Number?
Astrology and other bogus pseudosciences have never interested me, but I have a thing about numbers because 44 and 88 had special meanings in my family when I was growing up.

The Mast-Head | David E. Rattray
Wrong and Right
The helping of crow awaiting me the next time I see my friends Lenny and Robin from Chicago about Barack Obama’s victory is nothing compared to the four-course meal of mea culpa due Amy Chozick of The Wall Street Journal.

Point of View | Jack Graves
The Art of the Possible
I knew it was all over when I saw that the Steelers had beaten the Redskins.

GUESTWORDS | By Jeanine Larmoth
Bea’s Things
My aunt’s bedroom, when I was small, was a sanctuary, not of serenity, lacking only a stained-glass window, whiffs of incense, and a candle or two, but a sanctuary of chaos,  overflowing with signs and symbols of her dedication to activity.

Relay | Taylor K. Vecsey
Time To Sweep
Few traditions stuck in my family, a fact that irked Steve.