Richardson’s executive order, veto messages on budget

Governor Richardson, in his ignorance, has lumped all state employees together for the "responsible" 5-day furloughs.

The governor apparently is ignorant of the fact that thousands of state workers are not paid out of the General Fund. Many New Mexico State employees are in 100% federally funded positions, and putting them on 5-day furlough should do nothing to help the General Fund.

Of course, if the governor intends to robs the state's federal programs of funding equivalent to 5-days salary of the federally funded workers, I think the feds will have something to say about this illegal appropriation of federal money specifically intended for the programs, not for filling in Richardson's budget gap.

Richardson has been very stupid in money matters of late, and it's hard to see how illegally seizing federal money will amp up his reputation.