AND ANOTHER THING …

It’s been about a month since Gov. King announced the “completely unexpected” discovery that his state revenue forecasters were off by about $180 million. Since then, the governor’s been putting together a comprehensive, carefully conceived plan to address the shortfall: the Appropriations Committee has been briefed; legal opinions on the governor’s curtailment authority have been sought; meetings with individual cabinet and other agency heads have been scheduled during the next several weeks to determine what spending reductions can be undertaken administratively; consultations with legislative leaders will follow to ascertain what reductions must be made legislatively; then, and only then, will a special session of the entire Legislature be convened. Now if we could just get such comprehensive, carefully conceived planning for state revenue forecasts.

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After two years of study and research, the Institute for a Strong Maine Economy has released a report in which it is posited that the Maine economy is not strong because of the following: taxes are too high, wages are too low, local governments don’t cooperate, not enough people go to college, too many young people leave the state. The report is called, “No Place to Hide,” a curious title selected, we hear, because the first choice, “Stuff You’ve Heard a Hundred Times Before,” already was taken.

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Something else you’ve heard a hundred times before is that sprawl is bad because letting people live where they want to results in long and wasteful daily commutes to work. Now, in conjunction with the latest batch of Census 2000 data that assesses America’s driving habits, it is revealed that such anti-sprawl crusaders as the governor, the head of the State Planning Office and much of the Natural Resources Council of Maine staff engage in long daily commutes to work. It’s not wasteful, however, because they’re living where they want to.

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If the debate the other night among the six Democratic contenders for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District is any indication, one of the hot issues in all the coming campaigns will be whether candidates have taken money from health-industry interests. Candidates must long for the days when the only fund-raising pariahs were mob bosses and trial lawyers.

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Another hot issue surely will be casino gambling. Here’s a taste of what to look forward to. James Bartlett of York, a leader of Casinos No! opposing the Penobscot/Passamaquoddy tribal proposal for a gambling resort in southern Maine, wonders, “Where do they get the right to come down to our community and try and ruin it for a few dollars?” Mr. Bartlett also asserts that “We don’t see ourselves as a not-in-my-backyard organization.” Should be a yummy debate.

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Michael Martel may not be, as Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson put it, “The worst bigamist in the world,” but the University of Southern Maine professor who married the second Mrs. M in Hawaii a month before the first got around to filing for a long-discussed divorce in Lewiston clearly is not one of the planet’s great detail men. Apparently that “Speak now or forever hold your peace” business doesn’t apply if you don’t invite your wife to the wedding.