{"id":4035,"date":"2008-12-03T01:30:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-03T07:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/12\/an-awkward-fit-or-a-perfect-match\/"},"modified":"2008-12-03T01:30:00","modified_gmt":"2008-12-03T07:30:00","slug":"an-awkward-fit-or-a-perfect-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/12\/an-awkward-fit-or-a-perfect-match\/","title":{"rendered":"An ‘awkward fit’ or a perfect match?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Richardson may be a good cheerleader for U.S. business, but does his past jibe with Obama\u2019s campaign pledge?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

When Barack Obama<\/a> nominates Bill Richardson<\/a> to be commerce secretary later today, he\u2019ll be putting the New Mexico governor in charge of what an article in The Politico<\/a> calls a \u201csprawling bureaucratic fiefdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some might say there\u2019s no better job for a man many in New Mexico would compare to a feudal lord than overseeing an agency of nearly 40,000 employees that is in charge of everything from, according to The Politico, \u201cthe census to the National Weather Service to the Patent and Trademark Office to agencies charged with boosting economic development, international trade and minority businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama, according to the Washington Post<\/a>, is scheduled to officially announce his selection of Richardson to run the Commerce Department<\/a> at a news conference in Chicago that begins at 9:40 a.m. New Mexico time.<\/p>\n

So let the scrutiny begin. The Politico article focuses on Richardson\u2019s strong relationship with the business community and \u201chis own brief foray into the corporate world (that) resulted in affiliations that seem an awkward fit with the president-elect\u2019s platform.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the nearly two years between the end of the Clinton administration and his election as New Mexico\u2019s governor, Richardson traded on the prominence and expertise he accrued as Bill Clinton\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations and as energy secretary to land more than 20 paying gigs, yielding hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of directors\u2019 fees and stock options — much of which came from entities dealing in areas directly related to his work in the administration,\u201d the article states.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the article points out, Obama has \u201cpledged to close — or, at least, slow — the revolving door between government and the influence industry, proclaiming in a speech featured on his campaign website<\/a> that \u2018you will not be able to lobby and cash in on service in my administration.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s transition team, according to the article, \u201cdeclined to answer questions about how Richardson\u2019s corporate affiliations jibe with Obama\u2019s agenda, because an aide called reports that Richardson would be tapped as commerce secretary \u2018speculation.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While Richardson\u2019s past may not quite jibe with Obama\u2019s promise, the commerce secretary\u2019s most important job, the article points out, is being \u201cchief cheerleader for U.S. business, both at home and abroad.\u201d Many believe that may be a perfect match for Richardson.<\/p>\n

As governor of New Mexico, he \u201cgot along famously with the business community,\u201d Terri Cole, president of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, was quoted in The Politico\u2019s article as saying. And CNN\u2019s Candy Crowley<\/a> said Richardson \u201cbrings to this plate, in particular in an era where the economy is the focus of attention, a lot of skills that could be put to use — perhaps opening up marketplaces for U.S. products abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamie Estrada, a Republican from Las Cruces who is deputy assistant secretary of commerce in the Bush administration, was quoted by the Albuquerque Journal<\/a> as saying that he expects Richardson will be pro-trade and an \u201cinternationalist\u201d who is \u201cup to this challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll have complete coverage of today\u2019s announcement, including an interview with Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a>, who will take over as governor when Richardson resigns, so check back throughout the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richardson may be a good cheerleader for U.S. business, but does his past jibe with Obama\u2019s campaign pledge? When Barack Obama nominates Bill Richardson to be commerce secretary later today, he\u2019ll be putting the New Mexico governor in charge of what an article in The Politico calls a \u201csprawling bureaucratic fiefdom.\u201d Some might say there\u2019s […]<\/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-4035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035","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=4035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}