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Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Sparks Fly in Cabinet Blame Game
By Jeff Jones
Journal Staff Writer
After the implosion of his commerce secretary nomination, are things between Gov. Bill Richardson and President-elect Barack Obama really as rosy as they're trying to portray?
Not if you put any stock in the anonymous finger-pointing flying between the two camps in some national media, including The Washington Post: "Richardson, Obama Teams Trade Blame" was the headline Tuesday in the newspaper's online edition.
Trever's View
[+] Click for full cartoon John Trever / Journal
CDR Facing Suits by Former Clients Jan. 7 story
Gov. Says He Was Hurt Over Losing Post But Is Focusing on State Again Jan. 6 story
Governor Drops Out of Commerce Consideration, Cites Federal Probe Jan. 5 story
Pay To Play Inquiry Derails Cabinet Post Jan. 5 story
Timeline of Events Jan. 5 list
Reader Comments on Richardson Withdrawal Here
The accusations about who told — or didn't tell — what to whom about an ongoing federal investigation into how a high-dollar Richardson political contributor landed state business were among developments Tuesday. The story has continued to draw national attention since Richardson's surprise Sunday announcement that he had withdrawn from his nomination for the Cabinet job.
Other developments included:
n Richardson appears to have embarked on a national damage-control campaign via e-mails to supporters of his own yearlong presidential bid.
A Pennsylvania politics blog posted an e-mail letter it said was from Richardson that rehashes his prepared comments about his withdrawal and includes Obama's glowing written statement about the two-term governor.
"Thank you for your past and continued support. I look forward to putting this matter to rest and in the meantime I am preparing for the upcoming New Mexico legislative session," the letter says.
The e-mail ends with "paid for by Richardson for President" — although Richardson dropped his White House quest a year ago.
When asked Tuesday about the e-mails and whether it was appropriate to use presidential campaign funds to send them, former Richardson deputy campaign manager Amanda Cooper declined to comment.
n Richardson told a Monday news conference that he was confident the investigation will show he and his staff did nothing improper, and that he had hoped it would be completed by December.
His spokesman, Gilbert Gallegos, on Tuesday declined to elaborate on what Richardson based that hope on.
"I am not going to jeopardize the criminal justice process by commenting on anything related to the CDR investigation," Gallegos said in an e-mail.
It did not appear in December that the investigation was going to wrap up. Almost all potential witnesses had retained legal counsel, which slows the pace of investigations because prosecutors have to work through defense attorneys to conduct interviews.
n Gallegos redirected a Journal request to review Richardson's responses to a background questionnaire reportedly given by the Obama camp to those seeking Cabinet-level jobs.
"Your request should be directed to the President-elect's transition team," Gallegos said in an e-mail.
A Journal telephone message left late Tuesday with the transition office in Washington, D.C., wasn't immediately returned.
According to a sample of the questionnaire published in November by The New York Times, the 7-page, 63-question document asks various questions about prospective candidates' backgrounds, including a request for any information that could "be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the President-Elect."
n Several national media outlets reported that Obama was the beneficiary of campaign cash from David Rubin, whose firm, CDR Financial Products, is at the center of the federal grand jury probe in New Mexico.
According to ABC News, $28,500 of Rubin's money went to a joint Obama/Democratic National Committee fund; $26,200 went to the Democratic National Committee; and $2,300 went to Obama's presidential campaign.
The Associated Press said an Obama spokesman declined to comment.
'Difficult spot'
Obama announced Richardson as his choice to head the Commerce Department on Dec. 3. Richardson's withdrawal was disclosed Sunday in statements from Obama and Richardson released by the Obama transition team.
CDR was paid $1.4 million for work it did on behalf of the New Mexico Finance Authority, which issued transportation bonds for Richardson's $1.6 billion transportation project initiative, called GRIP. Rubin made at least $100,000 in contributions to Richardson-backed political action committees about the time the firm got the work.
Richardson has repeatedly said he and his administration have done nothing improper, and he has issued a statement saying he expected all state employees to cooperate with investigators.
Gallegos said Sunday that Richardson has been forthcoming with the Obama transition team about the federal investigation involving CDR, which the Journal began reporting on in August.
At least one national political observer has pointed out that a simple Google computer search would have provided details of the probe, and several news outlets have focused their reporting on what some believe was a shoddy vetting job by the Obama transition.
But none of that has stopped unnamed sources in the national press from trading barbs on the disclosure matter.
According to Tuesday's Washington Post story, "Sources within the transition and the Justice Department said that Richardson had played down the importance of the probe and did not reveal that his office and staff could be at risk."
The Post story added: "A Justice Department source also said Richardson neglected to mention the ongoing investigation on a background-check questionnaire."
An anonymous "senior Richardson aide" fired back in the Post story, saying, "This was out there, and he told them. I feel that they just missed the boat on it. The FBI or the campaign or something. I don't think it's fair that this is being portrayed as him holding anything back."
Longtime New Mexico political analyst Brian Sanderoff said Richardson is in a "difficult spot."
"On the one hand, he needs to defend himself against allegations he was not forthcoming," said Sanderoff, president of Research & Polling Inc. "On the other hand, he doesn't want to get into a finger-pointing match with Obama aides, which could reduce his chances of being considered for a future high-ranking appointment."
Journal Investigative reporter Mike Gallagher and Journal Washington Bureau reporter Michael Coleman contributed to this report.
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