Republican legislative leaders have pulled the plug on plans for a special session to deal with the state’s budget deficit.

“Time has simply run out,’’ House Speaker Jim Weiers and Senate President Tim Bee wrote in a letter delivered late Friday to Gov. Janet Napolitano. They said there is no “practical opportunity’’ to have a special session between now and the start of the new regular session Jan. 12 to craft a solution to the $1.2 billion gap between anticipated revenues and expenses.

And the pair blamed Napolitano for that failure, saying she proposed “an incomplete plan’’ and has not provided necessary details.

Gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L’Ecuyer said that’s not true. She said Napolitano presented them with a plan that fixed the entire $1.2 billion gap.

L’Ecuyer acknowledged that plan included not just outright spending cuts but also some “suspensions,’’ putting off some purchases into future budget years. There also were some accounting devices, including having the state delay paying certain bills, as well as draining whatever is left in the state’s “rainy day’’ fund.

And one idea would sell off the state’s right to some future Lottery ticket sales in exchange for cash right now.

That apparently did not sit well with the lawmakers who said her plan “only creates a greater problem for the next Legislature to address.’’ There already are estimates that the deficit for the coming fiscal year which begins July 1 could hit $2 billion if permanent spending cuts are not made now.

L’Ecuyer, however, said if the two lawmakers are looking for someone to blame they should get a mirror.

“To lay this at the governor’s feet is absolutely false,’’ she said.

L’Ecuyer said if the legislative leaders did not like the way Napolitano proposed to fix the deficit, they should have presented their own alternative. That, she said, did not happen.

“It’s unfortunate this Legislature has not been able to get its act together,’’ L’Ecuyer said. “They’ve basically tossed in the towel and run like hell.’’

Neither lawmaker will be in leadership when the new session begins. Bee, who waged an unsuccessful race for Congress, is leaving the Senate; Weiers remains a representative but was ousted by fellow Republicans as speaker in favor of Rep. Kirk Adams, R-Mesa.

L’Ecuyer also said Napolitano was more than willing to negotiate even a partial solution to the deficit, a move that would reduce the work the next Legislature would have to do. That, too, she said was rejected by the GOP lawmakers.

She suggested that the decision by Weiers and Bee to pull out of negotiations has an ulterior motive: Sometimes soon  perhaps as early as the end of next month  the GOP-controlled Legislature will be dealing not with the Democratic incumbent but with her replacement, Republican Jan Brewer.

Napolitano said she will resign after the U.S. Senate confirms her nomination to be the next Secretary of Homeland Security, something that cannot occur before Barack Obama takes office on Jan. 20.

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