Blog @ MoreWhat.com

When the report of a federal grand jury investigating a donor of Gov Bill Richardson’s was published at Bloomberg’s financial website on Dec 15th and posted on the forum at MoreWhat.com the first thought was The Gov may get some mud on himself from a donor who may be in trouble. Now that the Governor has withdrawn his name as the nominee for Commerce Secretary three weeks after the report some questions arise.

First there is the funny question of the previous post here includes commentary by James Carville that Dems will have more scandals because there are more of them in office currently and was that commentary’s timing simply coincidence? Richardson says in a statement that the investigation would delay the confirmation process and that is a reason to withdraw. Is that a sincere concern or is it that he expects to be indicted when the investigation concludes? If he does not expect to be indicted then why does he state he will remain in office ‘for now’?

Certainly one could make the obvious leap from the original report that a donor gave Richardson money and in return Richardson made sure the donor was awarded a fat state contract. But if that was so obvious to the federal grand jury you might think indictments would have been served already. But then it has only been several weeks, court proceedings take time and maybe the list of indictments is growing and it will take more time to complete.

The most interesting question about scandals that may burden the incoming Presidential Administration is who will be next? That can be followed with how many scandals will there be? Not even inaugurated yet and trouble on the horizon is growing for President-elect Obama.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has withdrawn his name for nomination as U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s commerce secretary.

Governor Richardson said Sunday his decision stems from a federal grand jury investigation into a company that contributed to his political activities and won a contract with the state he leads.

In a statement, Richardson said he and his administration have acted properly in all matters. But he said the ongoing investigation could take weeks, or months, and could delay his Senate confirmation to Mr. Obama’s Cabinet.

Mr. Obama said he accepted Richardson’s withdrawal with “deep regret.” The president-elect said Richardson’s decision is a measure of his willingness to put the nation first.

Richardson was a rival to Mr. Obama for the Democratic Party presidential nomination last year. Richardson says he will remain in his job as governor of New Mexico for now.

Mr. Obama selected Richardson to head the Commerce Department in December. The New Mexico governor was the first Hispanic named to Mr. Obama’s Cabinet.

The governor is a former congressman and served under former President Bill Clinton as energy secretary and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 10:57 am and is filed under Public Affairs, wordpress, Politics, News Media, disclosure, ethics, Law, Justice, obama, Bill Richardson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.