Judging from the ongoing debate between Gov. Bill Richardson's office and some state lawmakers about new budget cuts, it seems the Legislature's special session kept going even after it adjourned last Friday.

The banter — some of it on a blog and Twitter — is mostly over who has cut what, and who hasn't.

Richardson's office took aim at lawmakers, saying they "singled out governor-controlled agencies for the most drastic budget cuts" as they dealt with a $650 million shortfall.

"The Legislature also targeted the governor's exempt employees, obviously for political reasons not related to overall budget savings," says a blog on the governor's home page.

But there was nothing political about the move to roll back the hundreds of people on the state payroll who serve at the governor's pleasure, said Rep. Nate Cote, D-Las Cruces, who sponsored a bill to get rid of 180 of such jobs.

"I've gotten along well with the governor," Cote said. "I've supported his agenda the whole way through ... I did something to reduce the size of government, like my constituents wanted, and for him to say something like that is a little underhanded. It's not a political agenda."

In the Senate, another Democrat and a Republican also sponsored similar measures. In the end, a provision was included in the Legislature-approved budget that would require the governor to eliminate 102 exempt positions, some of which are vacant.

The blog post, which doesn't have an author listed, also suggested lawmakers allowed agencies including the Legislature and the Attorney General's Office to escape with few cuts, and discounted the media's coverage of the budget.

"Did those agencies make any budget cuts? Did they freeze hiring and forgo salary increases? Nobody would know from the media coverage of the budget during the past year. There has been little or no scrutiny of those budgets," the blog said.

"In fact, the Legislature handed out pay raises — one as high as 17 percent — for 33 exempt employees since October 2008. The Legislature also hired or rehired 126 employees during that time period, although that includes session hires," it said.

Legislative Council Service Director Paula Tackett said many of the employees who got raises work in building services at the Capitol, and got raises "from minimum wage to minimum wage" to keep up with the city of Santa Fe's change in the minimum salary paid to local workers.

The 17 percent increase to an information technology employee was "long overdue," she said.

"Nobody got general raises," she said. "We did some equity increases."

At the Attorney General's Office, two sets of raises were given in the past year, spokesman Phil Sisneros said.

"All but one were in the single-digit range," he said, calling it "hardly eye-opening."

Three raises were given to adjust a pay disparity in attorney positions, Sisneros said.

Others were "to compensate three of our litigation attorneys for increased duties necessitated by our decision to not fill the division director vacancy in order to save budget," he said. Holding that job open saved $100,000, Sisneros said.

The office gave one raise of more than 10 percent, related to a promotion, but Sisneros said he didn't have any more details on that.

The administration on Monday said the cuts approved by the Legislature would mean cuts to critical state services, although it released few details then, saying it hadn't received the budget bill. The Governor's Office didn't allow reporters to speak directly to public information representatives in various state agencies.

When the administration did release information Tuesday about some cuts, it also subtly pointed a finger at lawmakers.

"The budget bill passed by the Legislature, if it is signed by the governor, would slash services, such as children's health care, behavioral health care, health care for developmentally disabled individuals, medically fragile and those with HIV/AIDS (and) nutrition assistance for seniors," a Human Services Department release said. Richardson has until Nov. 12 to act on the budget.

Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he found the remarks disingenuous.

"Its pretty frustrating, the remarks and releases he's come out with," Smith said. "We had to do it (the cuts). He was forewarned and he wanted to stay the course."

Richardson in a news release this week also blasted the Legislature for not cutting capital-outlay spending, and directed state agencies to cancel all grant agreements for projects not already under way. Only those with contracts in place by Oct. 23 will continue, his office said.

"I am taking this bold action since the Legislature chose not to cut even one dime of its pork projects," Richardson said. "These pork projects should be the first to be cut before we take any action that affects people."

On his Twitter page, Rep. Ben Rodefer, D-Corrales, said "The governor does not have the authority to freeze capital outlay. The power ... lies solely with the Legislature."

Rodefer in an interview questioned the governor's course.

"I absolutely think we need to pull back a whole bunch of capital outlay, but for the governor to shut down every project going forward, I think that's the wrong approach," he said.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog at www.greenchilechatter.com.

On the Web

• Gov. Bill Richardson's blog is at www.governor.state.nm.us/blog2009.php