I don't know what to say about last night's special meeting of the County Legislature.

The meeting dealt with a proposal to contract with a newly-formed local development corporation, which would buy new public safety communications equipment and lease it to the county. With a 20-year term and a $224 million price tag, the proposal (which passed with Republican support only) deserved some serious examination. It's universally accepted that the county's public safety communications need upgrading - the current patchwork system has some major issues.

Everything started OK.� Republican Majority Leader Dan Quatro introduced an amendment dealing with some transparency and accountability issues. An example: the Legislature's majority and minority leaders each get to appoint someone to the LDC board. Democrats offered amendments that would have established additional oversight, but the GOP legislators shot all of them down. Quatro's original amendment passed 29-0.

Through that point, the debate carried a respectful tone. It didn't last, however. Toward the end of the meeting, legislators got snippy with each other and exchanged barbs. After Democrat Paul Haney brought out pictures of a subcontractor's headquarters, Quatro called him a "partisan hack."

That the meeting ended this way is disappointing. Prior to the session, Republicans and Democrats were actually discussing this referral and negotiating. They even made some headway. That's good for government and good for the community.

But what we saw last night is this: the division between Republicans and Democrats has grown so deep that building consensus may be near impossible. Maybe we already knew that. Either way, it's a shame.