AND ANOTHER THING …

The federal court ruling that the “under God” part of the Pledge of Allegiance is an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion has sparked widespread concerns, including whether the “In God We Trust” motto on U.S. currency may be targeted next. Given Corporate America’s financial scandals and they damage they’ve done to innocent investors, pensioners and workers, a good replacement might be “Trust No One.”

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Big Business cooks its books to hide financial problems, but state governments are not permitted the luxury of lying, which is why everybody knows that Maine is facing a two-year shortfall of $180 – oops, make that $200 plus – million. Honesty certainly is the best policy, but considering the grief filling this hole will cause to schools and other vital programs, to state employees and, inevitably, to taxpayers, you have to ask where’s Arthur Andersen when you really need him?

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Friday, July 5, will be the first of three furlough days Gov. King has ordered for state employees to do their bit for the budget. A precise roster of who has to take this unpaid day off has not been set, but state officials say it will not include those deemed essential to public health, safety and welfare. So if you see state workers at leisure Friday, thank them for their sacrifice and – please – spare them the tiresome jokes about being unessential.

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Rep. Thomas Murphy is upset with the part of the governor’s budget-rebalancing plan that calls for cuts in state aid for education, saying such a fundamental change in state policy should be done only in consultation with the Legislature. To that end, Rep. Murphy has asked Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe to review a legal opinion that the governor has the authority to undertake such unilateral action – a legal opinion given the governor by Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe. Wonder how that’ll turn out.

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Most of the corporate accounting scandals to date have involved companies with relatively unfamiliar names engaged in ill-defined, nebulous new-economy enterprises – Enron, ImClone, WorldCom. The latest to join the hall of shame – by admitting it “overstated” earnings by $6 billion during the last four years – is no such newcomer, but a pillar of American business, that bluest of blue chips Xerox. The copycats.