I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Gov. Bill Richardson is living in political exile, according to a profile that appeared in the Washington Post today. But that apparently has not stopped him from pursuing his passion: foreign affairs.
According to the profile, Richardson has talked with North Korean officials and has focused on Iran in recent weeks. He also prepped Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton before her visit to Mexico City last month.
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
Richardson is said to have been in contact with North Korean leaders after they launched a long-range missile earlier this month, but that is a subject he declined to discuss.
Last week, the governor was preoccupied with trying to free Roxana Saberi, an American journalist who was arrested in January in Iran and accused of spying for the United States. Richardson negotiated with Mohammad Khazaee, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, to allow Saberi’s parents to travel to Iran to see their daughter. But he remains frustrated that the talks have stretched for weeks with no resolution.
The Post story notes that Richardson “still talks regularly with Hillary Clinton about foreign policy. He held two fundraisers for her to help retire her campaign debt and counseled her before her visit to Mexico City last month.”
The article appears to be an update on Richardson since his withdrawal in January from consideration as President Obama’s original pick to be U.S. Commerce Secretary. As New Mexicans know all too well by now, a federal pay-to-play investigation involving the New Mexico Finance Authority and a California contributor that gave a little over $100,000 to Richardson political action committees derailed that nomination.
There’s not much new on that front in the story, although at one point the author of today’s story says, “The probe is moving along aggressively, sources close to the investigation said, and it is unclear whether Richardson could be indicted or what may become of his top aides, some of whom have been questioned.”
Richardson, meanwhile, tells the Washington Post writer something that local media have heard before. And you almost want to believe him.
“The end-all, be-all for many in politics is Washington,” Richardson, 61, said last week over breakfast at the adobe-walled governor’s mansion here, in his first extensive interview since withdrawing as President Obama’s nominee for commerce secretary.
“I’ve been there, I’ve done service in the Congress, Cabinet, the U.N.,” he continued, adding: “I don’t miss it one bit. I really don’t. I wish them well. I’m satisfied with what they’re doing. I don’t have to be part of it to feel satisfied. I really don’t. This is hard convincing people because they know me, but I’ve found the ultimate job in being governor. I really have.”
The story has a few other tidbits of interest. At one point the author revisits the political melodrama that erupted last year when Richardson endorsed Obama over then-Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Questioned about his relationship with Bill Clinton, Richardson let out a deep belly laugh and nearly spit out his breakfast.
“Nonexistent. He’s ticked off with me,” he said. “I still have his picture here. I still enjoy my service with him. I don’t bear grudges, but he apparently does, but that’s okay. That’s politics.”
The story also offers up a little celebrity news with Richardson visiting Denzel Washington on set. The two-time Oscar winner is in Albuquerque shooting the movie “The Book of Eli”:
When he arrived on set, Richardson, always a star on his own stage, was as much a celebrity among the local crew as the movie’s leading man, Denzel Washington. (“The man who inspired my beard,” one crew member said as the governor walked in.)
“Hey, champ, good to see you,” Richardson told Washington.
“Good to be seen by you,” the actor replied.
