AUGUSTA — Gov. John R. McKernan announced Tuesday that he was freezing a scheduled 3 percent pay raise for about 200 senior political appointees and was asking other branches of government to do the same for their highest-paid managers.

McKernan said the pay freeze would not affect about 13,000 state employees who will get 3 percent raises on Oct. 1 as part of three-year contracts.

The governor also said the move was not made because of any worsening state budget problems, but because state finances continued to be tight.

“This is not the time for a 3 percent raise,” McKernan told reporters. “As we look at the budget, even though we are in the black, we need to take more steps.”

McKernan had postponed 5 percent merit raises for the same 200 appointees last February, although those employees did get 3 percent raises on April 1.

In last week’s televised debate, Rep. Joseph E. Brennan, the Democratic challenger to McKernan’s re-election, had criticized McKernan for allowing the 3 percent raises to the highest-paid appointees.

Barbara Reinertsen, Brennan’s campaign press secretary, said of the McKernan order, “We are declaring victory. We embarrassed him into taking this action.”

But McKernan said Tuesday’s order had nothing to do with the Brennan charge.

He said part of the package adopted by the Legislature to balance the 1990-91 state budget had required state agencies to come up with money for the 3 percent pay raises in October.

McKernan said some agencies didn’t have enough money to grant the raises so, rather than having some employees get raises and others not get them, it was decided it would be fairer to freeze raises across the board.

He said the move would save several hundred thousand dollars.

Affected will be all members of the governor’s Cabinet, bureau directors, deputy commissioners and associate commissioners. Also affected will be “policy-influencing employees” who are appointed by Cabinet members.

“My decision-makers are being asked to keep their belts tight for the good of state government and the citizens of Maine,” McKernan said in a prepared statement.

McKernan said senior members of the Attorney General’s Office would forego their scheduled Oct. 1 pay raise and he hoped the Legislature and Judicial Department would make the same sacrifice.

He said the Legislature had granted its senior employees both 3 percent raises and 5 percent merit raises earlier this year.