And another thing …

Minority floor leader Rep. Thomas Murphy, Republican of Kennebunk, says he won’t seek a leadership position if Democrats retain control of the Maine House and elect Majority Leader Michael Saxl of Portland as the next speaker. Though offering no specific objections, Rep Murphy wrote colleagues that he “would be unable in good faith to work with [Saxl] as part of a leadership team.”‘ Considering that the GOP failed to field candidates in 36 districts and that two investigations are under way regarding ballot petition improprieties, it seems he already has.

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Given the opportunity to make his case before the annual convention of the Maine Municipal Association last week, George Kerr, former lawmaker and head of the video gambling referendum, called the leader of the opposition a liar and Gov. Angus King a hypocrite. Not the most cogent of arguments, but a distinct improvement over trying to convince voters that losing $130 million to the machines in order to get $44 million in tax relief is a good idea.

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Congress continues its end-of-session spending spree, loading up bills with thousands of unrelated goodies for the voters back home. One example is the bill for housing and veterans’ affairs, which has 1,100 local projects worth $800 million tacked on, including $1.5 million to help Memphis build a soul music museum and $500,000 for carousel restoration in Cleveland. “Sure there are increases,” said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, “but it costs us more to do what we do.” After all, do you know what a good carousel repairman costs these days?

The late-session spending is so excessive some budget experts say as much as one-third of the projected federal surplus could be gobbled up and force the presidential candidates to revise their fiscal proposals. Gov. Bush, for instance, reportedly is considering scaling down his tax-cut plan to one that benefits the wealthiest one-half of 1 percent.

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Increasingly sensitive about allegations he tends to embellish his accomplishments, Vice President Gore has backed away from his claim that the policies of the current administration are responsible for the booming economy. He does, however, still maintain they have resulted in 20 percent fewer cavities.

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While the remarkable People’s Revolution in Yugoslavia provided many Americans with a fresh reminder of how precious democracy is, some residents of Illinois apparently missed the point. Until a Chicago judge shut the scam down, about 1,000 voters in the Land of Lincoln had agreed to sell their absentee ballots to a Web site that then planned to auction them off to the highest bidder. The expected payment per ballot – $12.38 – suggests that while freedom isn’t free it is, for some, awfully darned cheap.