Gov. Bill Richardson had just answered a few questions about tax-increment development districts (TIDDs) at Winrock Mall Wednesday when he waved me over.

I was walking away, thinking we had finished our one-on-one Q&A.

Have you written about my weighing the open conference committees bill, Richardson asked. I told him I had.

“You know I’ve gotten four pieces of mail,” Richardson said to me unsolicited. “That’s it.”

E-mail and mail, I asked. “Combined,” he said.

“The media is interested but the public isn’t,” a staff person standing next to the governor chimed in.

“I’m just saying,” the governor said.

The exchange was over. I don’t know what purpose Richardson had in sharing this other than to communicate that the public doesn’t seem to care about opening legislative conference committees. And that it might signal that he’s preparing a case to veto the bill.

Earlier in the week, Richardson had said that he had concerns that the legislation would let either chamber — the House or Senate — to ignore the law if it chooses, the governor said. Specifically he had concerns with the first phrase of the bill (pdf) : “Unless otherwise provided by joint House and Senate rule.”

“I do believe in open conference committees,” Richardson had said Monday. “But I don’t want it to be a gigantic loophole. And the issue is, is it better to have a clean one than this? That’s what I want to assess.”

Richardson pledged during the legislative session, which adjourned March 21, to sign a bill that would open conference committees and many other currently closed legislative meetings to the public.

The bill passed the House on a 66-0 vote and the Senate by a 33-8 vote.