Mike Z. was able to start working on Nov. 15 after all - even though his former employer, Motorola, tried to make his career hiatus a little longer. As a good telecom citizen and a proud Canadian, I wrote a column in today's National Post about Mike Z.'s priorities. I am sure Nortel's crackerjack strategic team have their scissors armed and ready to cut out the column so they can paste it someone in Mr. Z's new office. You can find the column here. Meanwhile, the Globe & Mail has a story about ex-Nortel director Guylaine Saucier, who told a conference yesterday that - surprise, surprise - there were no signs that ex-CEO Frank Dunn was allegedly cooking the books. Saucier, a corporate governance expert and a former member of Nortel's audit committee, said the directors were "shocked" to discover that Dunn and several other senior executives were manipulating accounting reserves to trigger a lucrative bonus plan. This pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, by the way, was approved by the board but they only set the trap; they didn't lure the rabbit in, right? Saucier also complains directors attended 80 board meetings in 2004 as Nortel worked to resolve the accounting scandal but they were not paid a fee to attend. If I've got my facts straight, what you're saying is the board missed the fact that a major scandal was happening but  you want to be compensated for having to do some extra work to correct it. I'm sure Nortel shareholders would have approved that expenditure.