A letter to the editor arrived today from an aide to a local public official (not the one I referenced yesterday). The letter was critical of a recent editorial. No problem. We invite an exchange of all points of view on our editorial page.

What I found curious was the contention that the tone of the editorial was "nasty." I wouldn't characterize it that way. But OK, if that's what the writer believes, so be it. Except this is the same official who once dressed down a county legislator, in public, with language we wouldn't use in a family newspaper.

I guess it all depends on how you define "nasty."