I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Gov. Bill Richardson is pushing back against state lawmakers again. For the second time in two days, the governor’s office is taking umbrage with state lawmakers on its blog.
Wednesday’s entry is titled “Setting the Record Straight on Exempt Employees.” As the governor wrote: “Some critics, including uninformed legislators, have grossly exaggerated the increase in exempt positions during the Richardson administration, and it’s time to set the record straight.”
He continued:
Let’s start with where we were before Governor Richardson took office and where we are today.
State lawmakers have taken on what some are calling the enormous growth under Richardson of the number of political appointees who owe their jobs to the state’s chief executive.
That criticism reached its apogee Monday in the Senate when Sen. John Ryan, R-Albuquerque, debated the number with Richardson’s budget chief Katherine Miller.
Ryan said there were more than 500 political appointees — so-called exempt employees — who owed their jobs to Richardson. Miller said it was 450.
In Governor Gary Johnson’s FY02 exempt salary plan there were a total of 349 exempt employees under his control. Today, there are 450 exempt employees, reflecting a modest increase over seven years.
Even that increase is deceiving when you consider the fact one agency created by the Legislature – the Public School Facilities Authority – has grown from 15 exempt employees to 54. The Governor doesn’t appoint any of these employees, yet they are classified as “Governor exempt.”
In any case, the number of exempt employees under Governor Richardson’s administration represents only 2-percent of the total workforce – as was the case under the Johnson administration.
Despite claims to the contrary, exempt positions have not grown since Governor Richardson ordered a hiring freeze in November 2008. In fact, there has been a 4-percent reduction in exempt employees during that 11-month time period. And all of the Governor’s current exempt employees received a 2-percent pay cut during the past year.
