A NY Post article, printed two days ago, exposed the fact millions of our tax dollars have been set aside in phony accounts for later, quiet if not private, use. Since then, Speaker Christine Quinn has been on something of a hot seat.

We still don't know all the facts. What we appear to know so far is the following:

1. The law requires the City Council to allocate all funds at the beginning of the fiscal year.

2. Often, expenditures must be made during the fiscal year that were unanticipated at the beginning of that year.

3. Since at least 1988, the Council has set aside some money to provide for unanticipated costs. Recently, at least, that money was officially allocated to phony accounts.

4. The Speaker claims that she ordered this practice stopped and didn't know until very recently that her order was ignored.

It appears that no laws were broken. But the Speaker has been embarrassed by this apparent failure to live up to her promise of a transparent budgetary process. Most editorial comments seem to be along the line that if she did order the practice stopped and her order was ignored she is ineffectual, and if she didn't actually make the order then her claim is a lie. In other words, she's politically screwed either way.

The problem is, so far only Charles Meara, Quinn's chief of staff, has come forward to back up her assertion that she had ordered the process stopped. In other words, even as the budget process is becoming more transparent, as Quinn promised to do, the workings of her own office have become more opaque.

It's not a pretty sight.

Let us suppose, for one minute, that Christine Quinn is telling the absolute truth -- that she found out about this procedure and ordered it stopped, only to be ignored by her own staff. In that case, it stands to reason that many staff members will shortly be fired, as they should be. According to the NY Times, she has already fired two top staffers -- although one of them, it seems, left to take another job three months ago and was not fired after all.

In addition, she should call for an audit of all moneys that went through these phony accounts, going back as far as the auditors can find. Let the public know exactly where this money went, what favors were done, and for whom. If she truly, completely cleared the air about this money, she could emerge not tainted by the whiff of scandal but strengthened by her handling of a difficult situation.

If she doesn't take strong, transparent actions in the wake of these revelations, she will be tainted, and any hope she has for higher office will be seriously damaged.

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