>>Now, I didn't say this....and you didn't read this....but have you thought about checking out your local government agencies? Generally, particularly at the county/state level, salaries are fixed at a specific amount (usually about 1/3 - 1/2 of the going rate in the private sector). You might be surprised at what you find.
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>Hmmmmm.... I live in the state capital, but I'm afraid most of the programming & database related state jobs here are AS/400. But let's say that *if* ;) somebody was to tell me a tip like this, how would I possibly go about finding possible government employees with applicable experience?

Check to see if the governor's office has a job-line. Look in the want-ads (gods know most of our agencies have perpetual listings.

If the gov's office doesn't have a Job Line, check out some of the larger agencies, chances are they have Internet sites or go by the personel offices and grab job listing descriptions.

As an example, you can check out Texas Department of Health @ www.tdh.state.tx.us. I would imagine that your state agencies have the same type of address structure.