Richardson 40, Monahan 19

Governor Bill Richardson announced that he intends to lay off
59 state government employees. He refuses to name them.

Advocates of open and transparent government argue,
the public has a right to know about the spending of public resources; the Governor argues, not.

The truth will be known in less than a month. Anyone who cares to, can look at lists of government employees in December and compare the it to government employees in January, and the names that disappear will be those who didn't make the cut.
It seems silly for Richardson to spend his credibility forestalling the inevitable for a few short weeks.

Never the less, Blogger Joe Monahan, link, has dedicated himself to winning the pissing contest between the Governor and the people. With the help of his "alligators", he claims to have identified 19 short timers. His intention is to name them all before the list gets published anyway.

The current score then, Richardson 40, Monahan 19.

All of which misses the point entirely.

Either the people have a right to know about the spending of
their power and resources, limited only by the law and due
process, or
the Governor has the right to hide the truth, limited only by what
he can get away with in court at taxpayer expense.

We need to keep our eyes on the ball; government that is
transparently accountable to the people, and forget about
beating Richardson at his own game, on his home field.