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Bill Richardson's eclectic resume
The farce in Santa Fe is already history, courtesy of Billy Richardson and his hack from the Institute for Policy Studies on all things Korean, Selig Harrison. Now Billy is no longer able to hide his hopes for a vice presidential slot — if not the presidency — in 2004.
What a nightmare ticket: Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson.
Richardson established bizarre bragging rights when he shook 8,871 hands in one day of campaigning for Congress — and the clown still brags about it. However, that show of energy was sufficient for his fellow Democrat, President Bill Clinton, to appoint him as United Nations ambassador, replacing Madeleine Half-wit (or Albright if you prefer). During his 15 years representing New Mexico's Third Congressional District, he was all activity and no achievement.
| Coming January 26 |
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Saddam's lawyer Ramsey Clark plots a Bush impeachment campaign, but has he considered the Constitution's definition of treason? Read about it in Sunday's "Dateline D.C." column, a Tribune-Review exclusive. |
ETHICS QUESTIONS
Richardson, 54, escaped a baseball draft with an injured shoulder and real work by being a politician. Until his recent election, after the Energy
Department debacle, he became managing director of Kissinger McLarty Associates, an international consulting firm. Tom Fitton, of the legal watchdog group Judicial Watch, described the threesome running that scam by saying they represent "the lowest ethical standards, even by modern American norms."
In Congress, Richardson always kept a packed travel bag in his office. Clutching his bag, with funds, staff and airline tickets provided by the Clinton State Department, he would rush off into the publicity spotlight of situations that called for quasi-official negotiations. Richardson was masterful in milking them for his own publicity.
Billy went global: Afghanistan, Burma, Haiti, two trips to North Korea in the early 1990s, Sudan, Bangladesh and Iraq. The Richardson mission to Sudan was the one Bill Clinton enjoyed hearing about most. Richardson was there to secure the release of one of his constituents held hostage by a flyblown group of supposed terrorists. Gifts ([ransom) of a tractor, jeeps, rice, radios and the Washington equivalent of "beads and trinkets for the natives" did the trick. The deal was closed with congressional cuff links for shirts the group would never see. Best of all, Richardson didn't have to pay a cent. The cuff links come out of a House member's stationary account. But what a story to tell back in Washington.
ENERGY SHILL
Bill Richardson made wonderful use of his 18 months at the U.N., where he began his work as a shill for Enron and other energy thieves. In 1998, he was pushing Enron's pipeline developments in the Caspian region and began his duties to the failed Texan oil giant, enabling it to sign up nearly a $1 billion worth of contracts with Nigeria. He found excuses for the Enron- paid and -trained security squads in India and helped Enron create its "special-purpose entities" (used to hide financial losses) in Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia and Argentina.
Bill Richardson was a natural to be Clinton's energy secretary. There he helped create turmoil in the investigation of Chinese spies and chaos in the search for lost computer databases full of nuclear secrets while bringing about massive increases to the price of gasoline. He spent many lunchtimes cutting deals for the many oil corporations whose boards he was invited to join.
Just don't mention the San Diego-based software company Peregrine Systems to Bill Richardson. Like Enron, Peregrine overstated its earnings — by a cool $100 million — and our friend was a director and signatory on at least 10 of the SEC registration statements. Many claim he was a key member of Peregrine's management. The five lawsuits by Peregrine's terminated workers and shareholders may establish the truth.
Billy got his secretary of energy appointment by failing in his most important mission for Bill Clinton. With the promise of a wonderful job at Energy as the incentive, Richardson offered Monica Lewinsky, Bill Clinton's paramour at the time, a job at the U.N. (Can you imagine the conversations between the two Bills as they discussed her qualifications?) The more pressure put on Monica, the more she resisted being treated as a piece of used office furniture.
'ROTTEN NEGOTIATOR'
And what can we construe from this interesting resume, apart from the fact that Secretary of State Colin Powell must have been asleep at the switch?
Richardson is a rotten negotiator. One needs only look back to five years ago when he created a situation that caused the deaths of many Americans. In 1998, with Rick Inderfurth of the State Department, he convinced the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in Afghanistan to sign a ceasefire promoted by the anti-American Pakistani Gen. Hamid Gul. It lasted only long enough for Gen. Gul to re-supply his Taliban friends. With Osama bin Laden's thugs as the vanguard, the Taliban all but destroyed the Northern Alliance. Richardson claims that at the time he believed the drug-dealing, fanatically anti-Western Taliban would bring stability to the region and facilitate — you've got it — oil pipelines.
With his palpable ambition and imprudent escapades from Sudan and Enron through Monica and Peregrine to North Korea, Billy Richardson already has done immeasurable harm to his country. We can't help wondering what further damage this charlatan will achieve for the United States while playing with Pyongyang.
Dateline D.C. is written by a Washington-based British journalist and political observer.
