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Saturday, September 12, 2009
Aboard the Good Ship Richardson
By Thomas J. Cole
Journal Staff Writer
In his nearly seven years as governor, Bill Richardson has tried to keep a pretty tight lid on details of his private life.
He believes he is entitled to a measure of privacy, and I agree. It's the size of the measure where we disagree.
The issue came up again with news that the governor — while on "a personal trip" — was on board an 81-foot houseboat involved in an accident at Elephant Butte Lake State Park over the Labor Day weekend.
Some in the administration believe the news media have given the incident too much attention. Richardson wasn't driving the boat and no one was injured in the accident, according to reports.
But the accident and how he responded to it still say something about the governor's decision-making, including the choices he has made in people to surround him at work and at play.
The story of the boat accident is a simple one.
A houseboat identified as the Bloody Mary — although it might actually be named Bloody Merry — hit a marina and two other boats while trying to dock last Saturday afternoon at Elephant Butte, causing damage estimated at more than $15,000, according to a report by a state park officer.
In addition to Richardson, those on board the boat were his chief of staff, Brian Condit, Finance and Administration Secretary Katherine Miller, two State Police officers and the owner of the boat, Leon "Skip" Fay, and his wife, Brenda, of Rio Rancho, according to the report.
Immediately after the accident, which was reported to park officers at 5:15 p.m., Richardson, Condit, Miller and the State Police officers boarded another boat and were ferried to shore.
The administration then waited four days to issue a statement about the accident. That was an admission by Condit that he was driving the boat at the time of the mishap.
Asked why the governor and his group left the accident scene before state park officers arrived, Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said:
"Mr. Fay, the owner of the boat, stayed at the scene. Nobody else was required to stay, although the governor and Brian Condit stayed in the vicinity for about 30 minutes before leaving for a dinner engagement.
"Condit left his cell phone number with Mr. Fay and was available for the rest of the evening."
Miller said that after being ferried to shore with Richardson and the others, she and a State Police officer did return to the marina to make sure that everything was OK.
Miller said she was in the Elephant Butte area to train for a triathlon and was invited to join the governor's group for the boat ride.
She said the ride lasted no more than 1 1/2 hours. There were snacks, but Miller said she didn't drink any alcohol or see anyone else do so. Condit and Fay also told park officers that they hadn't been drinking.
The state has a law against drunken boating. No one has suggested Condit was doing so, but that couldn't be determined for certain by park officers because he left the scene and they only talked to him by telephone two days later.
Richardson has said he was asleep at the time of the accident.
Condit said he had relatively little experience in piloting a boat and won't contest a citation that he operated a boat in a reckless or negligent manner and endangered life or property.
Condit contacted a state park officer two days after the accident; the operator of a boat involved in an accident is required by state law to make such contact within 48 hours.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez, a state prosecutor, says Condit may have violated another law that requires a boat operator to render aid in an accident and provide his name and other information to the owners of damaged boats. The administration says Condit wasn't required to stay at the scene, and I'm not a lawyer.
Gallegos said Richardson's time in Elephant Butte was "a personal trip and the governor paid all of his own expenses."
Legal troubles
Fay, the boat owner, is president of a general contracting company and a real estate rental firm in Rio Rancho, according to state corporation records.
Gallegos said Fay "is a personal friend who the governor has gotten to know during the past year and a half."
Fay, 61, pleaded no contest in 2000 in state District Court to a misdemeanor charge of child abandonment.
He was sentenced to six months of probation and ordered to complete anger-management and parenting classes.
In 2003, Fay was arrested on charges of aggravated drunken driving and aggravated battery on a household member. Brenda Fay said he beat her; he said she attacked him.
Leon Fay pleaded not guilty, and a judge later ordered the charges dismissed after the prosecution failed to make witnesses available to the defense for pretrial interviews.
He couldn't be reached for comment on the cases.
UpFront is a daily front-page opinion column. Thom Cole can be reached in Santa Fe at (505) 992-6280 or at tcole@abqjournal.com
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