Richardson's Lies Have Finally Caught Up to Him
Bill Richardson and Barack Obama have always seemed a bit like an odd couple.
When the New Mexico governor stabbed his former patrons Bill and Hillary Clinton in their backs last March by endorsing Obama over Hillary, everyone knew that Richardson was simply making a calculated political wager by throwing his support Obama's way. After serving in the 1990s as both Bill Clinton's Ambassador to the United Nations and later Secretary of Energy, Richardson desperately wanted to be back in the big show.
For his act of betrayal, the "Ragin' Cajun" James Carville dubbed him "Judas Iscariot." Carville has never backed down from the charge.
Richardson's penchant for lying and unsavory associations has finally caught up to him. His withdrawal as Obama's nominee to serve as Commerce Secretary because of an ongoing grand jury investigation into whether he traded New Mexico government contracts for campaign contributions should come as no surprise. Richardson has always been only a step or two ahead of trouble. And there are reports coming out that he wasn't entirely candid with Obama's transition team about the nature of the investigation.
Richardson made national headlines a few years ago when he claimed he had been drafted during his youth by baseball's Kansas City Athletics. He knew better, and Richardson--a mediocre small-college pitcher--finally had to admit he concocted the story. The lie had nothing to do with politics, but it shed a great deal of light on his character.
A more troubling tale took place on the campaign trail last year when Richardson embellished a story about a young American soldier from New Mexico, Lance Cpl. Aaron Austin, who had been killed in Iraq. During his campaign, Richardson often claimed that he had an emotional conversation with Austin's mother, saying she thanked him for the federal death benefits she had received and even showed him the government check.
Only one problem. Austin's mother said she never had the conversation with Richardson. It was yet another of his self-serving embellishments.
Richardson has also been caught fudging facts about illegal immigration. He lied about opposing Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository. He's been caught distorting facts about health insurance. Moreover, as Secretary of Energy, he was chastised by members of both parties for the role he played in falsely charging Wen Ho Lee in the nuclear espionage scandal at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Chinese American activists in California had previously organized against his nomination. (See the latest on that here.)
Richardson also played a central role in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, during which time he offered Lewinsky a job at the U.N. in order to get her out of the White House. Evidence suggests that he knew far more about her relationship with Clinton than he let on at the time.
Just this past year, Mother Jones reported on Richardson's unsavory ties to big oil and his peripheral participation in the Peregrine Systems scandal, in which the San Diego company, on whose outside board Richardson served (his wife was also the sister in-law of Pergegrine's CEO), was "engaged in various acts of financial impropriety, including masking the severity of Peregrine's losses with phony accounting."
And he also worked as a lobbyist for Henry Kissinger's DC-based lobbying firm, Kissinger McLarty Associates.
Back in New Mexico, Richardson maintained a close relationship with well-known painter R.C. Gorman, who was suspected of being a pedophile for more than 40 years. An FBI report released after Gorman's death indicated that the agency had uncovered "credible evidence that Gorman participated in child sexual abuse," though the only provable cases had occurred many years prior to the five-year statute of limitations. Richardson, who was aware of the charges, used Gorman's art work "Mystic Mesa" as recently 2002 in his campaign poster. Richardson's own "inappropriate" behavior around women also dogged him on the campaign trail.
In his current imbroglio, Richardson, who says he did nothing "improper," is being investigated in a pay-to-play scheme involving a Beverly Hills firm, CDR Financial Products Inc., which won two consulting contracts in 2004 worth about $1.4 million to advise New Mexico on a large bond issue.
CDR Financial Products has been investigated twice in recent years by federal agents regarding irregularities in the municipal bonds marketing industry--in which government officials have supposedly received under-the-table payments from companies selling municipal bonds.
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Bill Richardson Withdraws Commerce Secretary Nomination
WASHINGTON — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson abandoned his nomination to become commerce secretary under pressure of a grand jury investigation into a state contract...
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Obama, Richardson Statements On Richardson Withdrawing Commerce Secretary Nomination
STATEMENT OF PRESIDENT ELECT BARACK OBAMA It is with deep regret that I accept Governor Bill Richardson's decision to withdraw his name for nomination as...
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Governor Richardson's withdrawal is neither unprecedented nor an ongoing story.
Dunn's piece, even if based in fact, is a perfect example of kicking someone when they're down, "stabbed, lie, unsavory associations, calculated political wager," and more opinions are expressed as fact (begining with the headline).
And using Carville and the Clintons as tapes with which to measure forthrightness is a poor choice. No matter, as Dunn has shown, it's easiest to present accusations as fact when the subject is unpopular.
Dunn is under no obligation to defend Richardson, be objective, fair nor benevolent, but he of course waited for Richardson to be on his way out before writing such a piece.
I wish Richardson the best. With whatever faults he might have, he has helped America a great deal and he still has a lot to offer.
I am surprised to see this kind of hate article in the Huffington Post. The "lies" Geoffrey Dunn cites are not based on evidence.
In the current investigation I think the issue here is that it costs so much to run for office in the US and especially for President, that candidates have to get as many big contributions as they can just to stay in the race. It is hard to avoid the appearance of influence even is there is no actual influence. WE NEED TO HAVE PUBLIC FINANCING OF ALL PUBLIC OFFICES TO AVOID THIS KIND OF THING. Incidentally Gov. Richardson has tried unsuccessfully to get finance reforms through the legislature here in New Mexico.
Bill Richardson has done much for education, health and the economy in New Mexico, a poverty stricken state that is trying to pull itself up by its bootstraps. He was the only presidential candidate that wanted to get out of Iraq NOW. He would have been better than Hillary for Secretary of State because he is more diplomatic and has less baggage. He speaks Spanish fluently and has lived in a foreign country which means he thinks people in other countries should have rights too.
He's a good fund raiser. He also got contributions from people like me, a retired teacher, who doesn't have that much money but who wanted to see a good man get elected president of the US.
Doesnt sound like he tried that hard to get reforms in if he decided to go the Pay to Play route. Doesnt sound like he tried at all. OH and by the way it sounds like hes got lots and lots of bagage, to much to get on the confirmed bus. Hillary will.
What is the difference between what Bill Richardson is being accused of and Hillary and Bill Clinton? Shouldn't Hillary rescind her nomination offering based on Richardson's precedent?
Richardson got caught in Pay to play. Richardson didnt tell the truth to the Obama transition team. Richardson bailed before being confirmed cuz he knew he would fail again. Hillary will be confirmed, Bill has layed out everything the Obama team has asked. So whats Wrong with Bill Richardson that he couldnt even make it to the conformation process of the Commerce Sec.
I'll wait until I see the actual evidence IF Richardson is ever indicted.
More Clintonite whining about the fact that Richardson chose the better candidate instead of the candidate he had worked for in the past.
Shocking as it might seem to my fellow Liberals, being a Democrat does not automatically make a politician above repreach. You are certainly free to defend Bill Richardson but you need to do a better job than some of the nasty, ill-conceived comments printed here. Rather than cherry picking one point from the piece to express your outrage at the reporter, how about an intelligent dissent based on the entirety of his article? Sorry to tell you but, taken as a whole, it's a dead on indictment of a politician who has always been something of an embarrassment to the Democratic Party. It's one thing to exaggerate but this guy has a penchant for making up fantastic tales that are easily disproven. He's a ham-handed opportunist who habitually leads with his "ignorance is bliss" persona. I remember his horrible performance at the HRC Presidential Forum where, in response to a question from Melissa Etheridge, he declared his belief that being gay was something people choose. Etheridge gave him TWO opportunities to clarify his answer and he stood firm...until the backlash hit him like a tornado. Less that 24 hours later he retracted his statement, claiming he didn't understand the question. I'm not sure which is worse, his jaw dropping original answer or his pathetic CYA retraction.
Shocking to which liberals, exactly? And the problem with this editorial is that any substantive points made are lost in the hit-piece nature of Dunn's rant.
ppppppppttttttttt!!!!!! MR DUNN: Stop trying to ruin good people while Rove, Bush and Cheney go free---and get an honest job while your at it.
A Bush administration US Attorney is investigating? - and still nothing substantial? - just a lot of innuendo then and I bet there will be a whole slew of "off the record" leaks of Grand jury testimony all across the nation as Bush wends his way back to Texas. Remember that Rove used the US Attorney's office to influence elections. Now that the Republicans on out, I'm sure the plan is to damage as many reputations as possible - and since they only investigated Democrats.....
I actually feel dirty having read this. Honestly, linking him to an alleged pedophile. For shame sir!
+1
You ever stop to think that Richardson, like millions of others, finally soured on the Clinton the machine and found a better candidate? This guy calls himself a journalist? I don't take him seriously.
You are good at digging for dirt on your judas.
Why will none of you comment on the most obvious (and positive) facet of this story . . . that Obama jettisoned this problem as soon as the facts became know? I am more than pleased that this situation demonstrates Obama's focus on good governance, rather than loyalty in the shifting sands of political alliances.
President-Elect Obama proves once again that his loyalty is primarily to his country and the voters who gave him a mandate to govern. He promised it will not be politics as usual ... that's why we are seeing the roaches in the Democratic party scurrying when the lights are turned on. The vetting process for his administration is historic! COUNTRY FIRST! There is no room at the inn for pay-to-play politicians anymore. This is good for young, upcoming politicians. We may be witnessing the dawn of a new era in how public servants conduct business. Now they know skeletons will be exposed and cost them promotions!
That's what I'm looking for VTya! Well said!
Wouldn't THAT be special?
EXCELLENT Observation, VTYA!
Great point, brutus, but what about why most, if not all, this stuff was ever mentioned before. This man, Dunn, certainly has more than one skewer, and, since he ran for the alleged No. 1 position in America, where was the media? And I use that term loosely, but then again referring to news as media is part of the problem.
I've always been rather indifferent to Richardson. A politician embellishing is just par for the course. However, this "Award-winning journalist, filmmaker and historian" has engaged in the kind of disgusting innuendo that deserves to be called what it is...gossip. When a person who fancies himself a journalist writes a statement like this:
Back in New Mexico, Richardson maintained a close relationship with well-known painter R.C. Gorman, who was suspected of being a pedophile for more than 40 years. An FBI report released after Gorman's death indicated that the agency had uncovered "credible evidence that Gorman participated in child sexual abuse," though the only provable cases had occurred many years prior to the five-year statute of limitations.
Everything he says is to be taken with at most a "grain of salt." The use of the word "pedophile" is a supercharged word and overshadows the truly disgusting nature of this "journalist" when he uses the word "suspected." Sorry, but his "Award-winning journalist, filmmaker and historian" seems more like a "filmmaker" and one who engages in fiction and embellishment himself at that.
I agree. And let us not forget Hillary's "resume" which I consider far worse.
Much of Richardson's history was a matter of public record. Doesn't it say something about the sloppy vetting by Obama's team to even consider him for any appointment? Why would Obama even want the endorsement of a person with such a record? Someone who publicy embellishes his record and does not expect to be called on his lies is seriously suspect in the mental health department.
Me thinks that Richardson isn't as bad as all that and probably was vetted. I wouldn't trust this guy or James Carville to accurately describe someone they obviously despise.
Why shouldn't Richardson endorse who he thinks is the better candidate--that's what a primary is all about. Frankly, I admire him for that as well as the work he did in Darfur, North Korea and getting hostages released.
I hope the allegations aren't true. While Richardson wasn't the most charismatic candidate--he did give some of the straightest answers. Like when the dems were asked if "illegal aliens" from Mexico, should be given drivers licenses and all of the candidates were back-tracking and saying "no"--which was the politically smart thing to do--Richardson said Yes, we've already done it in New Mexico--it's what the cops wanted so people could get insurance. He then added, but driver's licenses aren't the issue, immigration reform is--he then described his views on immigration reform.
I think he has a first-rate mind and am sorry to lose him.
Again, I hope the allegations aren't true.
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