EDITORIAL: The East Hampton fiscal mess

Now that a grand jury has issued its stunning report on the comprehensively bungled finances of the Town of East Hampton, now that one official has pleaded guilty and walked and another has walked without being charged, the town still faces the painful task of cutting its way back to health.

The grand jury's report exhausted the thesaurus to describe how badly the town fouled its nest under former Supervisor William McGintee. The grand jurors and Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota did not find enough evidence to bring criminal charges against McGintee, but the district attorney did at least get him to resign before his term ended.

The former budget director, Ted Hults, pleaded guilty to official misconduct and securities fraud, for using the Community Preservation Fund - meant for open space preservation - to cover other costs, and for misrepresenting the town's shaky finances to potential investors. He got a conditional discharge.

McGintee apparently escaped charges because he didn't know enough about the illegal part of what Hults was doing. But he shouldn't think he was exonerated. The big lesson: An exclusive focus on re-election can make officials shun painful short-term choices, which leads to long-term insolvency.

Now Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, a former Disney executive, must repair the tattered finances of the Mickey Mouse organization he took over. He's got the right ideas: Leave the CPF alone, don't raise taxes, and cut spending sharply. hN