Gov. Bill Richardson (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Bill Richardson just can’t seem to get a break. Two weeks after he learned he would not be charged in the pay-to-play probe that cost him the commerce secretary nomination, the nationally read Web site Wonkette is skewering the governor today over a weekend boating accident in which he was involved.
From a posting on the D.C. gossip blog headlined “Bill Richardson & Pals Smash Into Docked Boat, Flee:”
“More wacky late-summer tales, just for you! This one involves New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, the one with the resume, and the corruption. His life has very little purpose right now. That’s a good thing! The man deserves a break from his prison of Ambition, a passion that has kept him busy in hundreds of semi-important government jobs over the years. Now he has time to dance! He also has time to flee boat crashes — you know, like when the boat he’s on demolishes another boat, and destroys a marina in general, and then he and his buddies just pop off and never tell anyone. This is something Bill Richardson has time to do now!”
The Wonkette posting quotes heavily from a New Mexico Independent report in which a witness to Saturday’s crash at Elephant Butte said Richardson, his chief of staff Brian Condit, budget secretary Katherine Miller and security officers were gone within minutes of the crash and before officers arrived on scene.
“It was like they tucked their heads and said see ya,” Carl Shaw, Jr. told the Independent. “That’s the question, why?”
Ultimately, Condit was cited in the incident for what amounts to careless boating. No one was injured, but the boat the governor and others were on crashed into another boat and a marina, causing more than $12,000 in damage.
Noting that Condit didn’t talk to authorities until two days after the accident, Wonkette’s posting states that, by that time, “Bill Richardson had long since fled to Outer Space.”
“So unnecessary. It really would’ve made life easier for these people if they’d called the police immediately and paid whatever damages, instead of delving into a hit-and-run cover-up political scandal, for kicks,” the Wonkette posting states.
To be fair, Condit and the owner of the boat, Leon C. Fay of Rio Rancho, have said they take responsibility for the crash. And Richardson says he was napping when it happened.
Regardless, the incident is once again earning the governor and his administration some negative national attention. In addition to the Wonkette posting, a link to the Independent’s article is prominently displayed on the home page of Stateline.org.
Update, 1:45 p.m.
Talking Points Memo also has a post up about the incident.