PROVIDENCE, R.I. - House Speaker William J. Murphy has sent a sharply-worded response -- to one of his would-be successors at the podium -- for publicly criticizing him for not calling the House back sooner to tackle the state's economic crisis and for the resulting deterioration of state revenues.

"It is apparent that your second campaign for Speaker is floundering and you feel the need to generate some attention,'' Murphy wrote Rep. Gregory Schadone, a 42-year-old North Providence Democrat now openly campaigning for the votes to succeed Murphy if, as widely expected, he does not run for reelection next year. Murphy's Number 2 -- House Majority Leader Gordon Fox -- is also campaigning to succeed him.

"Let us set the record straight,'' Murphy wrote Schadone.

"My office is always open to meet with all representatives to discuss the budget and any other legislative matters. Not once did you avail yourself of the opportunity to meet with me to discuss any of your purported budget concerns this session.... You never testified before the House Finance Committee about any of your now alleged issues with the state budget.''

The letter continued: "The 2010 budget passsed by the House of Representatives contained $55 million in direct savings to the taxpayers through pension reform. On June 24, 2009, you voted against pension reform and its savings to Rhode Islanders.''

Murphy ended his letter to Schadone with these words: 'I look forward to seeing you when we reconvene on October 28. It is my sincere hope that you can put aside your political ambitions and work for the betterment of the people of your district and the state of Rhode Island.''

Murphy was responding to a September 14 letter to him from the North Providence lawmaker that marked Schadone's opening shot in the public phase of his long-running campaign for the speakership. He made the letter public on Wednesday.

Taking direct aim at Murphy and his leadership team, the letter began: "As the state budget crisis continues to deepen, there is growing public concern that the General Assembly has failed to return to work and address the crucial problems facing Rhode Island.''

Of the series of delays in reconvening the legislature to finish the legislative business the House and Senate left hanging when they recessed abruptly in late-June, Schadone wrote: "Unfortunately this constant series of changes raises questions about whether the legislature is capable of addressing this significant crisis,'' he wrote.

He called for lawmakers to (figuratively) "bang their heads together'' until they come up with an action-plan, and suggested this include a second look at one of Governor Carcieri's proposals: the phase-out of the state's corporate income tax.

"This is a time,'' he wrote, "when leadership is needed in our state, a time when all of our elected officials need to be involved in the effort to fix the systemic budget problems threatening our quality of life.''

Reached shortly after he received Murphy's letter on Thursday night, Schadone said he didn't have much to say about it except to note that it didn't respond to any of the economic concerns or issues he raised.

With respect to his votes against the pension revisions, Schadone noted that he was a member of a House pension-study commission that recommended a far more dramatic overhaul of the state pension system, after holding more than a year of hearings. He said he voted against the alternative that House leaders crafted because it didn't do enough to "protect the integrity'' of the pension, should have gone farther in changing the rules for new hires, and should have applied to judges.

Neither Murphy nor Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed have yet made public their agenda for the rare Fall session they have called for Oct. 28 and 29th, just days before the state's official revenue-estimating committee is scheduled for the second and last time this year to reassess where the state stands financially.

In their joint announcement of the session on Wednesday, they said only that, "The Rhode Island General Assembly will return for two days next month -- October 28 and 29 -- to address a number of legislative issues.''