New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson

Few public servants match the brilliance, decency and competence of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. A few months ago, Governor Richardson was a candidate for President of the United States, and he spoke to the heart of every American. Governor Richardson withdrew from the race perhaps because the cost to run for President of these United States is exasperatingly exorbitant and prohibitive. Our Nation's president should not be elected on the basis of how much money that person raised to outspend other candidates. Public financing does not bring about any kind of level playing field because the two major political parties always use legal loop holes to skirt the Public Financing laws anyhow. Bill Richardson was not able to raise 100 million dollars to compete, and sadly, we allow the media to tell us who the "front runner" is, based on who raises the most money. Gov. Richardson is a model of decency and a beacon of democracy. My hope is that if U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton wins the nomination of the Democratic party, that she will consider naming Governor Richardson as her Vice Presidential running mate. Of course, that is for Senator Rodham Clinton to decide on her own. I would hope that U.S. Senator Barack Obama would keep Governor Richardson's name on the top of his list of running mate, although I would anticipate Senator Obama may strongly consider former U. S. Senator John Edwards. Governor Richardson has spoken conscientiously against the border walls being constructed by the federal government in Arizona and New Mexico to keep out undocumented immigrants from Mexico and the rest of Latin America. His reasoning makes sense. We are more than 120 years too late in "building walls" to keep out people south of order borders in Texas. Texas, like Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, and New Mexico were all Mexican territory at least until 1845. That year, Texas was annexed into the Union with California joining the Union in 1850. Utah, which had been settled on July 24, 1847 by Mormon Prophet Brigham Young and 500 families, was declared an unincorporated U.S. territory in 1851, and attained statehood in 1896. Nevada attained statehood in 1864 while Colorado was declared a state in 1876. Governor Richardson's state, New Mexico was conferred statehood in 1912 along with Arizona, largely after the U.S. Census had determined that the Spanish speaking and Indian populations were far less than the English speaking white settlers who now resided in these two vast territories that were once Mexican-Indian lands. Governor Bill Richardson is a magnificent public servant who was a 8 term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 1997-98, and was confirmed Secretary of Energy in 1998. Additionally, Governor Richardson speaks English and Spanish, and his Resume makes him uniquely qualified to be President in his own right, but he would also be an excellent choice as the Vice Presidential running mate of Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama, should either one of these venerable leaders win the nomination of the Democratic party for President of the United States.

Governor Bill Richardson is a truly great American original.