When we hinted at a problematic process of getting Gov. Bill Richardson confirmed as the next commerce secretary, we figured it would amount to the usual bobbing and weaving about big campaign contributions being merely coincidental to the awarding of governmental contracts by the recipient. It's the kind of thing Richardson has been insisting since his days in Congress, and the kind of thing we expect to hear from Hillary Clinton and her husband when she goes for her confirmation hearings forsecretary of state.

But our governor found a bad time to be under the magnifying glass of a federal grand jury. Whether or not a corporate executive's contributions to this or that Richardson fund had anything to do with the guy's company landing milliono-dollar financial-consulting contracts for New Mexico construction work, President-elect Barack Obama has enough hassles over "pay-to-play" polititics among his Illinois colleagues. He doesn't need even a hint of impropriety among his Cabinet choices.

So until Richardson is cleared, and maybe longer than that, he keeps what most folks figure is a very nice position — nicely filled, for the most part. If indictments come down, he'll be ex-governor before his term ends. But for now, he must face more music: the cacophony of New Mexico financial plans pegged to unreliable revenue sources.

As late as last summer, it looked as if the gas and oil industries would continue making monstrous amounts gouging consumers; that state revenues would, if anything, go higher.

They might yet rise — but as the Legislature prepares to convene two weeks from now, it finds itself half a billion dollars behind this year's budget. As for the one our senators and representatives must hammer out for the fiscal year starting in July, that will be just the biggest of many acrimonious issues during the 60-day lawmaking session.

How much to cut from porkbarrel projects? How much to draw from cash reserves? How many vacant jobs go unfilled? How hard a hit for the governor's special hires?

Those were questions he'd have left the Legislature, amid Polonius-like lecturing about fiscal soundness, during what would have been his last state-of-the-state address.

Galling as the governor may find his forced tenure at the top of the Roundhouse, he should see it as the opportunity — not to mention the necessity — it now will be for what's left of his political career.

Can he show the Obama White House and the rest of the country that Bill Richardson can roll up his sleeves and dig into the national economic crisis as it affects his state? Can he focus on finances and come up with a strategy for achievement from adversity? Can he set in motion an economic-recovery plan that might serve as a model for other fossil-fuel states?

We think he can. It won't be the cakewalk he's had following an especially inept predecessor, but he's earned plenty of goodwill for overdue educational and social reforms. And he still has the persuasive powers that have served him, our state and American diplomacy so well.

What would have been a farewell speech should become a rallying cry:

• For making the best, in New Mexico, of what today's White House has left the country.
• For working with the new administration as it seeks to rebuild our roads, our bridges and our buildings, applying little or no pork.
• For reducing state-government waste and blazing new trails in efficiency.
• For advances in education and in health care against the financial winds.

He could underline his dedication by sacrificing some high-flying luxuries, and by forgoing favors which for years have been raising critics' eyebrows.

Then when, or if, the cloud goes by, he'll have shown himself a class act as the nominee wronged — and willing once again to serve.

Other positions are certain to come up — and so will Bill Richardson's name, if he can swallow hard and do justice to what he has called "the best job in the world."