{"id":1076,"date":"2007-01-09T13:23:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-09T19:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/columnist-attacks-richardsons-handling-of-storm\/"},"modified":"2007-01-09T13:23:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-09T19:23:00","slug":"columnist-attacks-richardsons-handling-of-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/columnist-attacks-richardsons-handling-of-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Columnist attacks Richardson’s handling of storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A national columnist says Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s presidential plans may be buried under a recent snowstorm that crippled Northern New Mexico<\/st1:place>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In a Richardson-hating column published in Capitol Hill Blue<\/a> and elsewhere, Scripps Howard News Service columnist Dan K. Thomasson, a former editor of the news service, wrote about the snow storm that buried Santa Fe and Albuquerque under 20-30 inches of snow over a three day period at the end of December.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Before getting excited about a Richardson<\/st1:city> campaign, Thomasson wrote, \u201cconsider that Richardson<\/st1:city>\u2019s administrative expertise got severely tested by the politician\u2019s nightmare, a snowstorm that discombobulated the state and its capital for days longer than it should have, leaving New Mexicans grumbling from Gallup<\/st1:city> to the Colorado<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> line.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Driving Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> streets, he wrote, \u201cis still hazardous nearly two weeks after the last flake fell in the worst storm in 30 years. It wasn\u2019t that the state and its two major cities \u2013 here and Albuquerque<\/st1:city> (we\u2019ll ignore Thomasson\u2019s ignorance of Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> for now) \u2013 were under prepared for 20 to 30 inches of \u2018partly cloudy\u2019 over three days, they weren\u2019t prepared at all despite some advanced notice.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe lack of equipment available statewide to deal with such an event would have embarrassed my Indiana<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> hometown, population 19,000. But why buy equipment for snow that only occurs now and then? Ma\u00f1ana,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Thomasson wrote about how few trucks were clearing roads in downtown Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> that would have been filled with holiday tourists. But he notes that there was some activity \u2013 when a piece of equipment was brought in to clear a city block between to hotels where Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> was holding his re-election inaugural festivities.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cBoth the workers and the equipment weren\u2019t seen again,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cMore than one politician has had his career buried by a winter storm, but the local press here \u2013 the radio call-in shows being an exception \u2013 seemed far more forgiving than in similar situations elsewhere,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

No need to worry if you\u2019re Richardson, Thomasson wrote. The governor recently traded his small, hybrid sport utility vehicle for a fabulously large vehicle that runs on a mixture of gasoline and ethanol.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cEven that might not handle the ice build up on the narrow thoroughfares where this city does most of its business,\u201d he wrote. \u201cBut that all will be forgotten when the baby-faced governor begins stumping the hamlets of New Hampshire<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> seeking presidential primary backers. If the warming trend continues in the East perhaps he won\u2019t have to embarrass himself by mentioning how he handled what is normally an everyday New Hampshire<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> occurrence.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s enough to make one wonder in these post-9\/11 times of peril just how responsive he might be,\u201d Thomasson concluded. \u201cChances are we won\u2019t have to find out, given his lack of potential for success if he does run.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ouch. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A national columnist says Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s presidential plans may be buried under a recent snowstorm that crippled Northern New Mexico. In a Richardson-hating column published in Capitol Hill Blue and elsewhere, Scripps Howard News Service columnist Dan K. Thomasson, a former editor of the news service, wrote about the snow storm that buried Santa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}