Another Richardson Cabinet Secretary Leaving

The fourth cabinet secretary for Gov. Bill Richardson in less than a week is bailing.

Rick Homans, secretary of Taxation and Revenue is leaving to become executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority -- a job Homans held briefly in 2007.

Duffy Rodriguez, who has served as deputy secretary of the Department of Finance and Administration, will serve as Tax & Rev secretary.

Homans was one of Richardson's original cabinet members, having served first as Economic Development secretary.

Last week the administration announced that Department of Education Secretary Veronica Garcia and Children, Youth and Families Department Secretary Dorian Dodson were retiring.

Richardson has less than six months before the end of his second term.

NM Budget Cuts Affect Governor's Joke Writers

Gov. Bill Richardson was in California yesterday for the unveiling of the Virgin spaceship VSS Enterprise.

According to an account by The Los Angeles Times, Richardson and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger were on hand and they "bantered with each other as though they were on the rubber-chicken circuit."

But it looks as though Arnold scored best in the snappy banter show.

Noting that passengers will have four minutes of weightlessness, Schwarzenegger joked: "No one is more happy than Gov. Richardson about that."

The more rotund Richardson laughed as hard as anyone, but then needled Schwarzenegger later: "Governor, you should join me in going to space, but I want you to go first."

That has to be the weakest comeback since the last Doobie Brothers reunion.