Bill Richardson
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William Blaine "Bill" Richardson (born November 15, 1947) is the current Democratic Governor of the State of New Mexico. He previously has served as a Congressman, United States Ambassadors to the United Nations, and U.S. Secretary of Energy. He was nominated as Secretary of Commerce in the Obama Administration but was forced to withdraw when he became the target of a corruption investigation regarding Pay to play (forcing businessmen to make campaign contributions before they could get a contract from the state government).
Although Richardson has no historic connection to the Latino population of the U.S. (his mother was from Mexico), he moved to New Mexico and became governor to capitalize on his Hispanic connections and looks. His political career is independent of the Latino community.
| Bill Richardson | |
|---|---|
| |
| Governor of New Mexico From: January 1, 2003 – Present | |
| Predecessor | Gary Johnson |
| Successor | Incumbent (no successor) |
| U.S. Representative from New Mexico's 3rd District From: January 3, 1983 – February 13, 1997 | |
| Predecessor | none (newly created district) |
| Successor | William T. Redmond |
| Information | |
| Party | Democrat |
| Spouse(s) | Barbara Richardson |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Contents |
Early life
Bill Richardson was born in Pasadena, California to an American father of Yankee descent and a Mexican mother. Both came from rich families. He as a U.S. citizen by birthright, was raised in Mexico City, where he lived and worked for decades. Three of his four grandparents were Mexican citizens and his sister Vesta is a pediatrician in Mexico. Following his father's footsteps he studied in Massachusetts, and earned a degree at Tufts University (1970) (Boston).
In 1967, he played in the amateur Cape Cod Baseball League.
In 1972, he married Barbara Flavin.
Release of hostages
In 1995 Richardson accompanied by Peter Bourne traveled to Baghdad for a meeting with Saddam Hussein to negotiate the release of two Americans at the request of the Clinton White House. Richardson and Bourne subsequently collaborated on a number of such efforts in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, and North Korea.[1]
Richardson has led several missions to win the release of hostages. In his autobiography and interviews, he jokes that he was chosen for these missions because "bad guys like me."
Richardson alleges Saddam has WMD
On 11 February 11 1998 Bill Richardson told Margaret Warner of the PBS News Hour regarding Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction,
- "We think this man is a threat to the international community, and he threatens a lot of the neighbors in his region and future generations there with anthrax and VX....Are we going to stand back and allow Saddam Hussein to continue developing Weapons of Mass Destruction?" [2]
Governor
As governor, Richardson continued activities in foreign policy. During the summer of 2003, he met with a delegation from North Korea to discuss its nuclear program.
Tax policies
Richardson was elected governor of New Mexico in November 2002. In his first year, Richardson proposed and won passage of Reagan-style "tax cuts to promote growth and investment" and passed a broad personal income tax cut and won a statewide special election to transfer money from the state's Permanent Fund to meet current expenses and projects. [3]
Accounting scandal
The Albuquerque Journal reported on June 12 2005, that a New Mexico State Auditor concluded the Governor used "Enron type accounting" after his administration "circumvented the Legislature and proper accounting procedures when it opened the office in 2004 because it used money intended for the Taxation and Revenue Department to pay for the governor's Albuquerque digs." The Governor had opened an office in Albuquerque five minutes from the airport to meet with potential out of state donors for his 2008 Presidential campaign without inconveniencing them with the two hour round trip to Sante Fe.
Campaign finance scandal
In April 2007 it was revealed Richardson had been the beneficiary of tainted cash donations to his campaign by several federally indicted high-level New Mexico conspirators who had bilked the State out of about $4 million for construction of a new courthouse in Abluquerque.[4]
2008 Presidential Campaign
Bill Richardson withdrew from the 2008 Presidential race on January 9th, 2008. [5] He withdrew after he trailed in fourth place in the the Iowa caucus with 2% of the votes, and then trailed in fourth in the New Hampshire primaries where he won 5%. This showed that he could not compete with his rivals’ star power, despite his credentials.
Richardson received a "Pants on Fire" award from PolitiFact for this false statement to an Iowa crowd on Labor Day 2007.
| “ | Iowa, for good reason, for constitutional reasons, for reasons related to the Lord, should be the first caucus and primary. | ” |
Bill Richardson has said he supports Obama. NM Gov. Bill Richardson endorsing Obama
See Also
References
- ↑ *Annals of Diplomacy Backfire, Carl Nagin, The New Yorker, 1998.
- ↑ Ambassador Bill Richardson, Online Focus, The News Hour Transcript, 11 February 1998.
- ↑ New Mexico cuts taxes to stimulate economy, Phil Magers, United Press International, 2/19/2003.
- ↑ Scandal Players Donated to Richardson, By Barry Massey, Associated Press 2 April 2007.
- ↑ AP: Bill Richardson Drops Out of Democratic Presidential Race, Associated Press, Fox News Channel, January 9, 2008
Sources
- Governor Bill Richardson's official website
- Richardson's Campaign Contributions
- Annals of Diplomacy Backfire, Carl Nagin, The New Yorker
- Richardson Named As Likely Source of Wen Ho Lee Leak, By Adam Rankin, Albuquerque Journal (Sunday, July 10, 2005)
- Final Report of the Attorney General's Review Team on the Handling of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Investigation ("The Bellows Report") (May 2000)
