Estonia’s Pakri Lighthouse showed up in a recent re-election campaign video for Representative Lee Zeldin as an inadvertent stand-in for the famous national landmark at Montauk Point. Democrats, including Mr. Zeldin’s opponent, Perry Gershon, quickly made fun of the campaign gaffe. Resistance Facebook and Twitter lit up with derisive posts.

It is not as if Mr. Zeldin doesn’t know what the Montauk Point Lighthouse looks like; he and his family were there as recently as 2016. Had he reviewed the ad, it is most likely that he would have noted the difference. The YouTube version, which the congressman narrated, was still on Mr. Zeldin’s YouTube page Monday; later in the video, the correct Montauk Lighthouse appears. Someone, and by that we mean Mr. Zeldin, had not been paying attention.

This was amusing, sure, but the case of the swapped lighthouses brings up the question of how much a candidate can be blamed for the errors of his or her staff. 

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo won the recent primary despite releasing a false claim that his challenger, Cynthia Nixon, was anti-Semitic. David Gruber lost a primary for a Democratic East Hampton Town Board nomination after his supporters spread a false story that the eventual winner, David Lys, must have voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. How the governor escaped significant damage from the bribery conviction of a former senior aide in the “Buffalo Billion” bid-rigging scheme boggles the mind as well. Then there was his infamous termination of the Moreland anti-corruption commission, which drew an investigation from then-United States District Attorney Preet Bharara.

Neither Mr. Zeldin nor Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Gruber have fessed up or apologized, as if doing so would be an admission of guilt and not a moment to show their mettle by taking an admirable high road.

Given that his battle to remain in office now looks like a dead heat, it is understandable that Mr. Zeldin would seek to distance himself from the lighthouse snafu. But Mr. Cuomo’s resistance to making amends was an inexplicable mistake given the near certainty of his victory in the Sept. 13 primary. As for Mr. Gruber, his failure to apologize was par for the course. But the point here is not to bash any particular politician but to consider if it is fair to fault them for the errors of their staff and supporters. 

Just about the first lesson elected officials learn is to take credit when things go well and deny involvement when they do not. But that does not make it right or an admirable example for others. Great leadership does not include wriggling away by blaming subordinates. President Harry S. Truman famously kept a sign on his desk that read “The Buck Stops Here,” which expressed responsibility and his willingness to answer for decisions that might not work out. 

Inasmuch as admitting mistakes is a show of character, evasions matter. A government in which leaders stand up and take their lumps is far better than one in which they dash for cover when missteps are made. History quickly forgets the weasels.

In many ways, the Village of Sag Harbor is worth emulating. It has retained much of its character through a fortuitous real estate market and strict rules about historic buildings. Regulations about what can be put where might vex property owners, but the result has been an enduring charm — one that property owners have been willing to pay dearly for. That message apparently did not penetrate the minds of the village’s fire wardens, a group who oversee the Fire Department, who voted in May to install a garish illuminated sign in front of the firehouse, on Brick Kiln Road. 

In a well-reported story in The Sag Harbor Express, several neighbors said they did not mind its flashing tawdriness, reasoning that because the volunteers do such good work they should be able to do whatever they please on the roadside. Others were annoyed, wondering why the Fire Department did not adhere to local standards. The firehouse is, after all, on village property.

The Sag Harbor Board of Fire Wardens is hardly the only official body to thumb its nose at the rules everyone else has to live by with regard to signs and commercial announcements. The Bridgehampton Fire Department has its own message board, which draws attention from the road and away from the old Community House. The East Hampton School District has long had lunatic scrolling and blinking signs that serve no obvious purpose except to draw maximum attention, with one mysteriously on a road that has very limited traffic. 

East Hampton Town from time to time has dumped ground-up road rubble on beaches as a protective measure. It continues to snub its own law by allowing the Army Corps of Engineers to indefinitely sandbag the Montauk ocean shoreline. And, to our knowledge, none of our local municipalities follows official recycling dictates in their own waste collection. Even among relatively trivial matters, it is a dangerous mind-set when officials believe that the rules do not apply to them. 

In any event, these illuminated signs are an unnecessary trend. One could not be faulted for wondering if there might be other, more important violations of municipal codes not so obvious to the naked eye.

The remnants of Hurricane Florence passed over East Hampton on Tuesday. Wind from the southwest, warm and heavy on the skin, whipped the flag above the village green. Leaves and tree limbs heaved and waved. Then came the rain, sudden and tropical, rivers running down the street to pool in low spots. 

This is the week, 80 years ago tomorrow, that the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 slammed into Long Island. The Atlantic surged over the dunes, breaking up more than 200 houses along Dune Road in Southampton Town and scattering the pieces across Shinnecock Bay. At Fort Pond Bay, the fishermen’s village built on the sand was cleared as if crumbs on a table. Then the storm moved inland, its relentless rain flooding New England and wreaking havoc.

Hurricane Florence has had much the same effect. Coastal damage from its winds and waves was substantial, but it paled in comparison to a sprawling disaster from flood waters. In the Carolinas, the Pee Dee River was expected to recede after cresting at 46.6 feet, nearly 20 feet above the flood stage. On the Waccamaw in South Carolina, the Charleston Post and Courier reported, the river was two feet higher than the level it hit during 2016’s Hurricane Matthew.

Close to 40 people have died as a direct result of the storm, including two inmates trapped in a prisoner transport van as the waters rose in Horry County, S.C. As happened after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, hundreds, if not thousands, more could lose their lives from the ancillary effects of power outages, loss of access to medical care, exertion, and lack of clean drinking water. A long-lasting threat will come from submerged farm waste and coal-ash containment lagoons, which have already begun to belch their toxic contents. Nearly all of the problems associated with Florence could have been avoided if communities had the foresight not to build in floodplains. But people in the South are no different from us in the North, who allow castles in the sand on dunes that will one day be overtopped in a giant storm once again.

One, two, three: The Village of East Hampton took on paper waste, plastic straws, and smoking in public in a single morning. The proposed measures are ambitious and worthy of support, even if enforcement turns out to be a bit tricky.

The broadest of the three would prohibit smoking and the use of e-cigarettes or vaping devices on public property in the village. This would cover some streets, sidewalks, parking lots, parks, and beaches. A smoking ban has been in effect in Herrick Park and the Main Beach Pavilion for some time; this would go a lot further. A ban would cut down on the cigarette butts that often foul sidewalks, but more than that, it would be a strong and more important message that smoking is harmful. How nice it will be not to have the acrid stink of a cigar wafting down the beach on an otherwise perfect day.

The village board is likely to join the anti-plastic straw wave, too, with a rule that would prohibit restaurants from placing them in drinks unless asked for by patrons. Activists concede that plastic straws are an almost infinitesimal part of the unnecessary consumption of fossil fuels and cause of global pollution, but, they say, banning them is as good a place to start as any. The village had already prohibited the use of foam takeout containers. Cutting down on plastic straws is a sensible next step.

Last and most complex among the proposals coming up for public hearing tomorrow is a village law that would classify the free magazines that choke the business district as garbage unless distributed according to strict rules. This would put the summer glossies, in particular those piled in front of stores, in the same category as household waste and construction debris. Free magazines would be allowed only with the permission of the property owner or tenant and they would have to be secured, although they could be handed out to passers-by. Those placing magazines on public or private property without permission would be subject to a penalty and the offending items removed. 

Each proposal is a worthy one. Taken together, they might go a long way toward making the village streets, parks, storefronts, and beaches more presentable, the air cleaner, and lessen the village contribution to the plastic waste stream.

It should not have come as a surprise this week, and yet it did, when Christine Blasey Ford identified herself publicly as the person making a charge of attempted rape against Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee. Some Republican senators wasted no time in dismissing her account as fiction. This echoed the reaction to Anita Hill’s sworn testimony during Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court comfirmation proceeding, which was turned against her. And, here in East Hampton Village, it was reminiscent of recent victim-shaming after complaints from female lifeguards about their swimsuits and higher-ups’ hostile responses to their concerns.

What is astonishing is that in this time of #MeToo and better awareness of sexual harassment, the default response when a victim comes forward is to dismiss her. There remains in America a double standard, in which allegations of harassment are taken seriously — unless they are leveled by women against men. This was true in Anita Hill’s time, and is true today. From Washington to East Hampton Village Hall, female accusers continue to be routinely — and wrongly — rejected by those in authority. This must end.

A public vote on the East Hampton Library budget, which comes up once a year, should be supported on Saturday. Here’s why:

One might perhaps think that libraries are a thing of the past in this fast-moving digital era, but that is far from the reality. From The Star’s vantage point next door on Main Street we watch the constant flow of patrons there — some checking out best sellers, others using free Wi-Fi, or simply enjoying the air-conditioning while relaxing with print newspapers and magazines in the comfortable periodicals reading room. 

The library offers even more in programs for children and adults alike, including the Tom Twomey Lecture Series, which on Saturday at 6 p.m. will present a detailed look at the Creeks estate, when it was the artist Alfonso Ossorio’s home and studio. There are a whole host of other offerings beyond books, including English language classes, tax prep, and DVDs to borrow. Then there is the wonderful Long Island Collection, a perhaps unparalleled historical resource for a small library. 

The budget proposal would add less than $2.50 a year to the average tax bill in the East Hampton, Springs, and Wainscott School Districts. For all the community gets, that sounds like a great deal to us.

You can’t directly blame the big Montauk party spots for trouble like a recent car crash turned drug bust or a slashing at the 7-Eleven. However, these dramatic incidents, coming within hours of one another, do have, as they say, a way of focusing the mind. East Hampton Town officials are contemplating an approach to heading off new problems.

Montauk in the summer is out of control. A devil’s brew of short-term renters, day-trippers, the party crowd, and a serious drug problem has the easternmost hamlet rapidly changing. It is a wonderful place, with extraordinary natural attractions and a strong sense of community, but for much of the best months of the year, it’s not your grandmother’s Montauk. Heck, it’s not your parents’ Montauk either or even the Montauk you knew growing up there.

There is a certain sense of resignation in the attitudes of some here that one can’t stop progress. That might be so, but it sure can be directed. For example, some years ago, Southampton, with all the costs in increased police and local disturbances, was the place to go if you wanted to dance and drink. Then Southampton Town made a determined effort to change things. It may not be entirely a coincidence that the party scene moved east. 

East Hampton Town officials are going at it in a smart way. A proposed change in the code would force hotels seeking to add a restaurant, bar, or even a takeout window to provide its own parking for all its overnight guests and half of what the law requires for the new restaurants. This makes a lot of sense, especially in Montauk, where multiple resort and hotel properties have taken over what should be the public right of way, claiming it for their own, exclusive use.

Town Hall should make efforts to rein in the chaos even further by setting very strict limits on outdoor venues. Most of the crowds — but far from all the problems — come from night spots that literally pack hundreds of patrons onto their lawns or decks. 

Montauk need not be Long Island’s number-one party destination to maintain its prosperity. There may be limits to how far town officials can go, but tipping the balance back in favor of residents and respectful, quiet visitors is an important goal to reach for. Hitting these party palaces where it hurts — their lack of parking — is a brilliant place to start.

Even in a one-sided dirty campaign this was a new low.

David Gruber, who is seeking the Democratic Party ballot line for East Hampton Town Board in Thursday’s primary, made an extraordinary blunder this week. In a mass email, as well as in Facebook messaging, he and his surrogates claimed that Mr. Gruber’s opponent, David Lys, did not tell the truth when he said that he had written in his father’s name for president in the 2016 election. 

In their divisive zeal to play a game of gotcha! Mr. Gruber’s supporters failed to check the facts before making an 11th-hour false claim. In doing so, they threw undeserved mud on an honest and hard-working rival. 

Mr. Gruber knew about the claim before it was made public, and has said the Reform Democrats did their homework. From all evidence, they did not. This is, at a minimum, reckless and does not belong in a town that prides itself on a community nature, or from a primary challenger who wants to be taken seriously.

Had he or his supporters looked into the facts surrounding Mr. Lys’s claim, they would have found that only the names of write-in candidates who let the board of elections know about their aspirations appear on official results. Mr. Lys’s father had not told the board of elections that he was a candidate so it had no reason to report his name. This makes sense; as a board of elections official told The Star, “Like ‘Mickey Mouse,’ we don’t note that down.”

Mr. Gruber owes Mr. Lys an apology. Out of arrogance perhaps, he failed to walk back the negative message once it was understood to be false, in effect, still claiming that Mr. Lys was a liar. That Mr. Gruber did not insist that the claim be vetted in advance and then failed to take responsibility once it was shown to be wrong leads us to conclude that he would not be a trustworthy member of the town board. 

Democratic voters and members of minor parties across New York State will have a chance to make choices next Thursday in primaries for offices from town hall to the governor’s mansion. In East Hampton, the main event — between Councilman David Lys and David Gruber — is for the right to appear on the Democratic Party line in November’s general election.

Mr. Lys joined the East Hampton Town Board in January when he was appointed to fill Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc’s seat. Before that, he spent five years on the town’s zoning board of appeals and helped lead the restoration of the Amagansett Life-Saving Station.

Mr. Gruber ran for East Hampton Town supervisor and lost in 2002. Until recently, his predominant local interest has been lessening East Hampton Airport noise. His candidacy is legitimate even though he has failed to publically rein in his most enthusiastic and occasionally perfidious supporters, who, among other things, falsely claimed that Mr. Lys, a registered Republican, voted for Donald Trump in the last election. (Mr. Lys wrote in his father’s name.) 

The strident opposition to Mr. Lys defies easy understanding, but Mr. Gruber’s willingness to tolerate abject nastiness and falsehoods about him is a big negative. Even if Mr. Lys were to the right of Steve Bannon, the former Trump White House strategist, his single vote on a five-person town board would hardly change its direction. We can think of two possibilities: Either the Reform Democrats fear that Mr. Lys might go on to become town supervisor some day, and then unleash a sleeper cell of Republicans, or they have signed on to Mr. Gruber’s attempt to gain a position of authority, something that has long eluded his grasp. 

By the same calculus, Mr. Gruber would pose little threat should he win the Democratic primary next week and go on to defeat Manny Vilar, the undisputed Republican nominee. Though Mr. Gruber has built his political presence in East Hampton on closing, or strictly curtailing flights at, the town airport, his would likely be a single vote to do so. Given Mr. Vilar’s poor showing when he ran for town supervisor last year, as well as the Democratic registration and turnout edge, it is safe to say that either Mr. Lys or Mr. Gruber would be the winner on Nov. 6.

Because next Thursday’s primary will almost certainly decide who is the November victor, voter participation is critical. Those who prefer Mr. Lys’s role as a community leader to Mr. Gruber’s more behind-the-scenes approach will want to have their say. On the other hand, voters impressed by Mr. Gruber’s many years as a Town Hall observer and airport-noise activist will need to turn out en masse to award him the Democratic ballot line in November. 

It is often not how individuals vote that wins elections but who gets off the couch to go to the polls. Whatever your position on the candidates, a primary is a direct opportunity to influence government in a way that really matters. 

Fresh, line-caught tuna, a late-summer delight, has been coming across the Montauk docks lately. Looking through the photos on our Instagram feed lately, we have been thrilled by images from the fish markets of fat yellowfin and bigeyes lined up on ice or cut into sushi-grade slabs on stainless-steel tables. Tuna labeled “local” might be suspiciously ubiquitous on South Fork restaurant menus, but right now we can be assured of the real deal, not something flown in from a probably unsustainable fishery in the distant Pacific.

According to seafood ratings from Oceana and other environmental organizations, bigeye and yellowfin tuna from the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico are a responsible choice from an environmental perspective. These species landed elsewhere and by less-discriminating methods, such as drift longlining in the western and central Pacific, are considered poor choices. Sadly, the delicious and once abundant bluefin is a no-go on most organizations’ seafood charts.

Most seafood markets now announce the country of origin along with the price per pound, and with good reason. In most cases, local is always better. And at this time of year, for the grill or eaten raw, you can’t get more local than a Montauk tuna.