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Saturday, June 20, 2009
Richardson, the Lakers and More
By Thomas J. Cole
Journal Staff Writer
The category today is odds and ends. Here we go:
Gov. Bill Richardson's staff remains largely mum on details of Richardson attending Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic.
Richardson, you might remember, was seated close to the court for the game on June 4 in the City of Angels, right behind tennis great Billie Jean King.
Here's what Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for the governor, had to say this week:
"The governor took the trip on his own time with personal friends. As no state resources were used and no official business was conducted, I am not privy to the details of the trip, other than the fact that the governor paid his own way and paid for his ticket to the game."
I don't think you can blame us for asking about the trip.
Why shouldn't the public know whether Richardson traveled on a private plane or flew commercial? He does have a history of flitting about the country on the jets of friends and special interests.
The state's Gift Act, enacted in 2007, generally prohibits a public official from accepting a gift worth more $250, including a jet ride or sporting event ticket, from someone who could benefit from the official's actions.
You might also recall two top Richardson aides attended a Lakers game in the spring of 2004 and that a government contractor, CDR Financial Products, picked up the tab.
Richardson withdrew his appointment to President Obama's Cabinet because of a federal investigation into whether CDR got the work in exchange for contributions to the governor's political committees.
The governor has insisted his administration did nothing improper, and the results of that investigation haven't been announced.
By the way, we track flights of the state's Cessna jet and it wasn't used to get Richardson to the Lakers game.
New book takes swipe at Richardson
Richardson gets a notice in the new book "Catastrophe" by political commentator Dick Morris, the longtime former consultant to President Clinton, and co-author Eileen McGann.
The governor isn't going to like it.
Morris and McGann devote a couple pages to Richardson in a chapter titled "Pay to Play." Others featured in the chapter include former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Roland Burris, the man Blagojevich appointed to the Senate.
The authors cover little, if any, new ground on Richardson, instead relying on news media accounts to rehash the CDR investigation and to re-report that an accounting firm with political ties to the governor has seen a marked increase in its government contracts.
The authors write:
"So buried is this apparent corruption that Bill Richardson ran for president in 2008, participated in all the debates, and was actually nominated by President Obama to be secretary of commerce before these scandals emerged.
"Imagine how it would have affected the country if Richardson had been confirmed — as secretary of commerce, of all things! — or even been elected president!"
The governor's a big boy and doesn't need me to defend him, but that is a cheap shot by Morris and McGann.
There is no doubt Richardson's campaign contributors have been rewarded by the administration. That kind of thing happens every day in politics.
The question is whether Richardson administration officials or campaign workers for Richardson crossed the line into criminal activity by somehow communicating that political donations were needed in exchange for favors or contracts.
No one close to the governor has been charged with a crime, much less convicted.
I reviewed an advance copy of the book by Morris and McGann provided by HarperCollins Publishers. It is due for public release Tuesday.
The book is largely an attack on Obama. I'd save the $26.99 and just tune in Rush Limbaugh if you want a dose of that. But I'm just a member of what Limbaugh calls the state-run media.
A co-op where democracy works
At their annual meeting last weekend in Taos, members of the Kit Carson Electric Cooperative voted to limit trustees to two terms on the co-op board but not to cut the number of trustees from 11 to seven.
It was a breath of fresh air to hear of democracy in action at one of the state's 18 electric co-ops. The utilities are owned by their members/customers and are supposed to be democratically run.
As I've reported, the trustees at another co-op, Socorro Electric, have thwarted efforts by some of its members to have votes on reducing the number of its trustees and other reforms.
Jerome Lucero, a member of the Kit Carson co-op and former general manager of the Mora-San Miguel Electric Cooperative, pushed the reforms in Taos.
"I felt that it's a start," Lucero said of his partial victory. He said the vote to limit terms sent a signal to trustees that members are willing to act when they believe change is needed.
That's just what the trustees in Socorro are afraid of.
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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