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.
Nearly 60 of Gov. Bill Richardson‘s political appointees will lose their jobs next month, the governor’s office announced today.
Supervisors notified 59 exempt, or appointed, state employees that their positions are being eliminated, effective Jan. 8, in an effort to save about $8.3 million dollars and help balance the state budget, according to a news release that went out just after noon.
That brings to 106 the number of vacant exempt positions, “which is about 20 percent of the exempt positions under the control of the Governor,” the release said.
The release quoted spokesman Gilbert Gallegos as saying “While the Governor has worked hard to cut spending with minimum impact to state employees, the reality is that we have to trim the number of exempt employees. We value and appreciate the public service these employees provided to the State of New Mexico.”
The release didn’t list exempt employees who were notified that they were losing their jobs. But the Santa Fe New Mexican, citing an e-mail it had received, ran a story Wednesday about one political appointee who might be out of a job.
The governor is responsible for around 500 political appointees across state government. State lawmakers made the governor’s political appointees a rallying cry during the October special session as they groped for ways to save money.
