Several years ago, the politicians told us they could get the farm for a mere $4 million. They miscalculated, badly.

Besides the hefty price tag for the land, the county and the township have to pay the Halpers' reasonable relocation expenses, and they have to dig deep to pay for all the high-priced legal talent that was assembled to guide the government through a series of losing court battles.

The politicians would most assuredly like the Halper farm problem to go away — but it won't. One problem they face is the fact that Piscataway doesn't have $18 million-plus to pay for the farm. At best, the township says it has about $6 million.

The county freeholders, at the urging of Freeholder David Crabiel — the father-in-law of Piscataway Mayor Brian Whalen — has agreed to chip in $8 million from the county open-space trust fund to spare Whalen any further embarrassment. That still leaves about a $5 million to $6 million shortfall.

Where will that money come from? Is the county going to dig deeper in to the trust fund to bail out the Piscataway Democrats? If so, that means all county taxpayers are going to assessed a political bailout fee to make the Halper farm debacle go away.

It also means that some other worthy open-space preservation projects in the county will not get done. Instead of more open space, the county will get more town-house developments and strip malls.

Soon, I hope the voters of Middlesex County will grow tired of paying for the corruption and arrogance of the county's ruling Democrat Party. We just can't afford to keep paying to bail out our local politicians.

Joe Sinagra

HELMETTA