As the special session cranks along, legislators are having a field day criticizing the Governor, who they blame variously for not trimming spending before now, for growing state government, and for not allowing them to consider revenue raisers as well as cuts to balance the 2010 state budget.

Richardson responded to the criticisms through a couple of statements yesterday. In one, he announced that he’d create a working group to develop a “reasoned” revenue package for the regular legislative session in January.

Then, late in the day he asserted that he’d already taken cost-cutting measures this year that have saved the state millions in payroll costs.

Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino kicked it off prominently on Sunday morning as he argued before the Senate Committee’s Committee that bills to raise revenue should be considered germane.

“There is no evidence in my mind that this administration in any way slowed down the spending in state government. …They’ve brought us right up to the cliff and said, you can’t put a bridge across that cliff.”

Rep. Nate Cote and Sen. John Ryan both went after state exempt employees yesterday, offering bills to cut significant numbers of those positions that would save the state $19-$22 million.

Cote said in the past year the number of exempt employees has grown by 27 positions, from 789 to 816, and that Richardson has increased his exempt positions by 281 positions over the past seven years. His bill calls for a reduction of at least 180 exempt positions, not to include those with salaries under $50,000, and he estimates it would save about $19 million a year.

Ryan announced a bi-partisan bill that would limit the governor’s political appointees to 220. He said in a statement the limit would take effect in January 2010 and save the state about $22 million a year.

Department of Finance and Administration Secretary Katherine Miller defended the size of the exempt employee pool, along with a lot of other things, during a grilling she received on the Senate floor yesterday.  She told Senators the number of exempt employees in state government isn’t proportionally high.

In a statement issued late yesterday, Richardson said biweekly state payroll is down $1.3 million with 1,300 fewer employees since November 2008, which is when his hiring freeze took effect.

“I am disturbed that some lawmakers have seriously mischaracterized the results of these important cost cutting measures,” Governor Bill Richardson said. “The truth is, there have been real results and savings to the State of New Mexico. In just the past eleven months, we’ve cut payroll by millions while making sure services to New Mexicans are not affected.”

In addition to the hiring freeze, the governor’s statement listed a number of other employee cost-cutting measures he’s already implemented, to last through June 2010:  Freezing Salaries of All Employees; 2% Pay Cut to all Exempt Employees effective March 2009; No Exempt Comp Time; No Overtime for Non-Essential Employees; No Exempt Buyout of Unused Annual Leave; and Freezing Upward Reclassification.

The fun continues today.

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