William Blaine “Bill” Richardson (born November 15, 1947) is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and a candidate for President of the United States.[1] He has served as a Congressman, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, and U.S. Secretary of Energy; he is presently the Governor of New Mexico. He was also chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention that nominated John Kerry for the presidency.
Richardson was born in Pasadena, California. His mother, Maria Luisa Lopez-Collada, was Mexican. His father, William Blaney/Blaine Richardson, the son of Boston born naturalist William Blaney Richardson and his Hispanic wife Rosaura Ojeda, was born in Nicaragua, grew up in Boston, and worked for Citibank as an executive in Mexico. Bill Richardson was raised in Mexico City, but moved to Massachusetts at age 13 to attend a Boston-area high school. Richardson played baseball in high school at Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts and was a pitcher. Richardson went on to play for Tufts University. For nearly forty years he claimed to have been selected in the 1966 Major League Baseball amateur draft, although this turned out to be incorrect.[2] Arm trouble later prevented him from pursuing a professional career.[3]At Tufts, he majored in French and political science, and was a brother of Delta Tau Delta. He then added a master’s degree from Tufts’ Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He met his wife, Barbara Flavin, in Boston.
After college, he worked on congressional relations for the State Department. He was later a staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In 1978, he moved to Santa Fe and ran for Congress, losing to longtime 1st District congressman and future United States Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan (R). Four years later, Richardson was elected to New Mexico’s newly created third district, taking in most of the northern part of the state.
Richardson spent a little more than 14 years in Congress, never facing a truly serious opponent in the heavily Democratic 3rd District. As a congressman, he kept his interest in foreign relations. He visited Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, Peru, India, North Korea, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Sudan to represent U.S. interests. In 1995, he travelled to Baghdad with Peter Bourne and engaged in lengthy one-on-one negotiations with Saddam Hussein to secure the release of two American aerospace workers who had been captured by the Iraqis after wandering over the Kuwaiti border. He became a member of the Democratic leadership, where he worked closely with Bill Clinton on several issues.
In 1997, Clinton appointed him as U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He served there until 1998, when he was appointed as U.S. Secretary of Energy, where he served for the remainder of the Clinton administration.
- Further information: Cox Report and Timeline of Chinese espionage against the U.S.
The Senate confirmed Richardson to be President Clinton’s Energy Secretary on July 31, 1998. His tenure at Energy was marred by the Wen Ho Lee nuclear espionage scandal. In July 2005 it was alleged by a Federal judge that Richardson had leaked Lee’s name to reporters months before the scientist was charged with any crime.[4] Richardson was also sharply criticized by the Senate for his handling of the espionage enquiry. During Senate questioning, Senator Robert Byrd (Democrat-West Virginia) scolded Richardson, stating: “You’ve …shown a contempt of Congress that borders on a supreme arrogance… You will never again receive the support of the Senate of the United States for any office to which you might be appointed.”[5]
Richardson was elected governor of New Mexico in November 2002, having defeated the Republican candidate, John Sanchez, 56-39 percent. He succeeded a two-term Republican governor, Gary E. Johnson. He took office in January 2003 as the only Hispanic Governor in the United States. Early in his first term, it is said he has pressed energetically in a hundred directions at the same time. In his first year, Richardson proposed “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. In early 2005, Richardson made New Mexico the first state in the nation to provide $400,000 in life insurance coverage for New Mexico National Guardsmen who serve on active duty.
Working with the legislature, the governor formed Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership (GRIP) in 2003. The partnership has been used to fund large scale public infrastructure improvements throughout New Mexico, including, through the use of highway funds, a brand new commuter rail line (the Railrunner) that runs between Belen Albuquerque and Bernalillo.
Even as governor, Richardson continues to be interested in foreign policy. During the summer of 2003, he met with a delegation from North Korea at their request to discuss concerns over that country’s use of nuclear energy.
He was named Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association and announced a desire to increase the role of Democratic governors in deciding the future of their party.
In December 2005, Richardson announced the intention of the State of New Mexico to partner with billionaire Richard Branson to bring the promising business of space tourism to the proposed Southwest Regional Space Port located near Las Cruces, New Mexico. In conjunction with the Ansari X Prize Cup, this partnership puts New Mexico firmly at the spearhead of the next generation of space advancement.
On January 2, 2006, Richardson rode on the New Mexico float in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California.
On September 7th, 2006 Richardson flew to the Sudan to meet Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir and negotiate the release of imprisoned journalist Paul Salopek. Salopek was charged with espionage on August 26th, 2006 while on a National Geographic assignment. In March 2006, Richardson vetoed eminent domain legislation in response to a surge of interest created by the Supreme Court‘s 2005 decision to increase local governments’ eminent domain power. [6]
In December 2006, Governor Richardson announced that he would support a ban on cockfighting in New Mexico.[7] New Mexico and Louisiana are the only states that have not banned the controversial sport.[8]
In January 2007 he brokered an agreement between President al-Bashir and leaders of several rebel factions in Darfur, the western Sudanese region, to a 60-day cease-fire. The cease-fire never became effective, however, with allegations of breaches on all sides. [9].
Richardson won his second term as Governor of New Mexico on November 7, 2006, 68-32 percent against former New Mexico Republican Party Chairman John Dendahl The outcome made Richardson New Mexico’s most successful governor at the ballot box.In recent years, Richardson has frequently been the subject of rumors that he was on the short list of possible vice-presidential picks by Democratic nominees, including former Vice-President Al Gore and Senator John Kerry.
In 2006, the Associated Press (AP) reported that Richardson informed party leaders that he intended to run in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.[10] In early December 2006 Fox News claimed that Bill Richardson told them he would run for President,[11] but Richardson said he would actually decide in January 2007.[12]
On Sunday, January 21, 2007 Richardson announced that he has set up a presidential exploratory committee.[13] Richardson joins a diverse democratic field for the Democratic nomination, which already includes Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Richardson is attempting to become the first Hispanic to earn a major Presidential nomination.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
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