{"id":5977,"date":"2009-09-10T13:35:30","date_gmt":"2009-09-10T19:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=5977"},"modified":"2009-09-11T08:13:48","modified_gmt":"2009-09-11T14:13:48","slug":"wonkette-skewers-richardson-over-boat-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/09\/wonkette-skewers-richardson-over-boat-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"Wonkette skewers guv over weekend boat crash"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gov.

Gov. Bill Richardson (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Bill Richardson<\/a> just can\u2019t seem to get a break. Two weeks after he learned he would not be charged<\/a> in the pay-to-play probe that cost him the commerce secretary nomination, the nationally read Web site Wonkette<\/a> is skewering the governor today over a weekend boating accident in which he was involved.<\/p>\n

From a posting on the D.C. gossip blog headlined \u201cBill Richardson & Pals Smash Into Docked Boat, Flee:\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMore wacky late-summer tales, just for you! This one involves New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, the one with the resume,<\/a> and the corruption.<\/a> His life has very little purpose right now. That\u2019s 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!<\/a> He also has time to flee boat crashes — you know, like when the boat he\u2019s 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!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Wonkette posting quotes heavily from a New Mexico Independent report<\/a> in which a witness to Saturday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like they tucked their heads and said see ya,\u201d Carl Shaw, Jr. told the Independent. \u201cThat\u2019s the question, why?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Condit was cited<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Noting that Condit didn\u2019t talk to authorities until two days after the accident, Wonkette\u2019s posting states that, by that time, \u201cBill Richardson had long since fled to Outer Space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo unnecessary. It really would\u2019ve made life easier for these people if they\u2019d called the police immediately and paid whatever damages, instead of delving into a hit-and-run cover-up political scandal, for kicks,\u201d the Wonkette posting states.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s article is prominently displayed on the home page of Stateline.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Update, 1:45 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Talking Points Memo<\/a> also has a post up about the incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: Two weeks after Bill Richardson 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 him over the accident at Elephant Butte.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[112,107],"class_list":["post-5977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-bill-richardson","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5977","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=5977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}