As the House and Senate floor sessions were coming to an uncharacteristically calm ending Saturday, a fight was brewing between two top legislators.

In a conference committee meeting on a measure that finances public projects including charter schools, Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, said t an amendment put on the bill by House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Nambé, had a "cloud of suspicion" over it. Smith didn't get into detail during the meeting about what he meant, but the committee agreed to remove the amendment.

The amendment could have allowed financing for a project at the Santa Fe Railyard, Luján said. Luján said he sponsored the amendment for a constituent.

The conference committee, which met with just more than an hour remaining in the 60-day session, was the first ever opened to reporters after the Legislature earlier agreed to unshutter them for the public.

After learning about Smith's questioning, Luján approached Smith on the Senate floor, as he stood talking to reporters.

"You are full of shit," he told Smith. "If you have anything to accuse me of, why didn't you come and tell me to my face or at least make a phone call. You are not worth a shit. I have absolutely no interest there."

Luján, later in the conversation, called Smith a "racist S.O.B."

When asked for his response, Smith said, "You'd like for people to have better control in public, but I understand when you're tired and spend a lot of time (working.) The speaker ... is a hard worker and pours a lot into his job."

The House stayed past 3 a.m. Saturday on the floor.

Luján, in an interview after the session, denied any interest in the project.

"I have absolutely no tie there. A constituent asked me if I could include that for the possibility of them going to the city and trying to fill up that hole that's over there ... at the Railyard."

"All they said was that there was a hole there and they want to see how they might be able to get some financing to get some kind of a business there," Luján said.

When asked what he thought was behind Luján's amendment, Smith said, "I have absolutely no idea, but there was suspicion to look at it before we passed it and moved on it."

He said earlier during the conference committee that the project wasn't one that would qualify for money from the Public Project Revolving Fund. The bill the conference committee was meeting on (SB584) dealt with projects that qualify for that fund.

"I think it has a cloud of suspicion on it right now," Smith said.

"I'm just saying it's one that doesn't qualify for this source of funding. ... If you try and squeeze it in, then it would be contrary to what they can do."

The issue of public-private development came up earlier in the session. Luján sponsored a bill (HB820) that died twice on a tie vote that would have allowed cities to use public money to finance part of some private developments.

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

To hear audio of the dustup, visit www.greenchilechatter.com