The government workers’ union is asking Governor Bill Richardson to veto the part of the recently passed budget bill that requires him to cut state agency budgets by  7.6 percent. ”Additional cuts of nearly 8 percent, which is closer to 10-12 percent because we are five months into the fiscal year, will deny much needed services to a significant part of our state’s population,”  Joel Villarreal of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) said in a news release Thursday.Gov. Richardson, the Human Services Department and the Corrections Department have all balked at the cuts this week.

Also quoted in the AFSCME release was Patrick Gutierrez, president of the local for state employees in Las Vegas, who said: “We understand the meaning of shared sacrifice in these though times. Moderate cuts along with enhanced revenue streams is the only we can get out of this mess, but we must make sure that any cuts or revenue enhancements are responsible and are done in a way to help us recover quickly and not dig us deeper in a hole.”