Richardson, Martinez wrangle over state budget

From the New Mexico Independent - Governor-elect Susana Martinez and the outgoing administration Gov. Bill Richardson swapped accusatory statements Thursday over how bad New Mexico’s budget woes are. Before it was all over Martinez was accusing the Richardson administration of playing “financial shell games” to hide the true size of New Mexico’s budget woes while the Richardson administration was questioning Martinez’s understanding of how state budgeting works. The fireworks erupted Thursday afternoon after a top Richardson administration financial official gave the Associated Press a briefing of New Mexico’s budget that projected a $450 million budget shortfall for the year that starts July 1. That projection was based on certain assumptions and was, at the risk of oversimplification, a sort of worst-case scenario. The $450 million figure is significantly higher than the $260 million figure the Legislature was briefed on earlier this fall. The lower estimate was based on a different set of assumptions than the scenario outlined to the Associated Press on Thursday. But once the $450 million number was out, Martinez issued a blistering statement accusing the Richardson administration of playing hide-the-bad-financial-news. Read more

Richardson, Martinez wrangle over state budget