The state now is looking at the unevenness of how the arts are funded in North and South Jersey. And -- particularly considering that this is the government we're talking about -- it's moving quickly.

Bravo, and thank you. Secretary of State DeForest Soaries has announced a review of whether arts groups in South Jersey were short-changed by about $2.1 million over the last four years. This probe launches next week, only a few weeks after the Courier-Post ran a series of articles pointing out this inequity.

To make matters better, Soaries said the inquiry will be done by June 1. We could see some real action on this by the end of summer.

Particularly gratifying is Soaries' comment that paying North Jersey groups to perform in South Jersey is, in Soaries' words, "a very creative way" to fulfill the obligation of supporting South Jersey arts. Officials at the N.J. State Council on the Arts said those payments to North Jersey groups fulfilled their obligation to support arts in the south.

Also gratifying are comments by Assemblyman Joseph Roberts, D-Camden, who said the intent of the law when he first helped write it was to build arts groups in South Jersey, not bring in other arts groups from the outside.

In fact, most of the reactions that the Courier-Post has received about the arts funding series have been supportive.

The chief exceptions have been people who fear that this controversy may undermine the good work done by the council. We sincerely hope it doesn't. And it doesn't have to, if the council gives South Jersey what it's supposed to give it. Otherwise, state officials have little choice but to act.

The council is in danger of being undone not by the the investigation, but by its own refusal to be fair. Soaries' investigation, and the likelihood that he will find the same unfairness that the Courier-Post investigation turned up, could mean the council's time of reckoning is at hand.