Inattention to details can be costly – and illegal.

That’s true in Maine and elsewhere. Three unrelated cases prove the point.

In Washington, former national security adviser Sandy Berger is under investigation for mishandling classified documents.

In Maine, state Reps. Janet Mills of Farmington and Thomas Saviello of Wilton admitted illegally accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists while the Legislature was in session.

In all three cases, the law should be allowed to work. “Sloppy” is no excuse.

We cannot discern nefarious intent in any of these actions. For Berger, the documents he illegally removed from the National Archives were copies, not originals. According to reports, the documents had already been inspected by the Sept. 11 Commission. Besides wanting more time to review the materials or believing security rules were below a person of his stature, there doesn’t seem to be a good reason to sneak the documents out of their secure location. But he did, calling the move a mistake that shows disorganization more than criminal culpability. When he was informed that the documents were missing, he returned the ones he could find. Others are still missing. An investigation that began last fall has yet to result in criminal charges, but it should continue.

Mills accepted $25 and Saviello took $75 from lobbyists – who were their longtime friends, it seems – while the Legislature was in session. That’s against the law. Both lawmakers, who are up for re-election, say they made a mistake, and the executive director of the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices is recommending no penalty because the amounts are so small and the two appear to have acted in “good faith.”

Carelessness is no excuse, and the amount is immaterial.

The Berger matter should be investigated fully and the truth revealed – without the partisan heckling going on in Washington.

And Mills and Saviello should be fined.

The law is pretty clear, and it was broken. Regardless of intent or the small sum of money, a penalty is appropriate. Otherwise, the value of the law is eroded.

Tax outrage

No pretext remains that the president and Congress are interested in writing good tax policy.

Two examples from last week should make voters hopping mad.

First, a bipartisan deal to extend three, middle-class tax cuts was killed by the Bush administration. The plan would have extended the expansion of the 10 percent tax bracket, a tax cut for some married couples and the $1,000 child tax credit for two years, and would have paid for the lost revenue with offsets.

The president derailed the reasonable deal in order to push a five-year plan that doesn’t include replacing the lost revenue, which means the already out-of-control deficit would be made worse. His political advisers would like to create a big fight over the taxes close to the election, hoping to force Democrats and Republican moderates like Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to go along.

Meanwhile, Congress is about to approve a pork-laden piece of junk legislation that will give huge tax breaks to special interests. There’s something for the tackle-box lobby, tobacco farmers and General Electric, just to name a few. Taxpayers are left with the bill, which ranges from $90 billion in the House version to $170 billion in the Senate.

A reasonable tax compromise that would benefit working families dies, while corporate pay-offs through the tax code sail through both the House and Senate. The deficit gets higher, and taxpayers get soaked coming and going.