Haunting Bill Richardson? The Corspe in the closet (it'll be a skeleton by 2008)

Since I am in New Mexico, our news coverage of the hurricane(s) has only been interrupted by the exploding (democrat) kickback scandals. My understanding is that this is beginning to get coverage across the country ... not something Bill Richardson wants for the image of his state if he has long term visions of a presidential run.

In short, if the allegations hold ... the last two treasurers of the state have been reaping hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, in illegal kickbacks from corrupt brokers who handle New Mexico taxpayers' money. As a result, New Mexicans have been getting royally screwed with some incredibly pathetic return rates on their money (< 3% by some accounts). At the same time, at least some of the kickback money has served to benefit New Mexico democrats, who have been reaping a winfall of campaign contributions rerouted (laundered) from the kickbacks.

This may have a direct impact on the democrat side of the 2008 presidential campaign. While all democrat eyes are focused on the Washington crowd, Bill Richardson would have been a reasonably moderate alternative to the radical elite field (for you lefties, nobody is being fooled by Hillary's little masquerade as a hawk). Richardson as an alternative brings: Clinton credentials, very positive image, non-Washingtonian, minority status without being "too" different, and at least a pretense of border control awareness. At the very least, Richardson had to be on the VERY short list as a VP candidate.

A key objective for the political clout of Richardson had to be to put New Mexico on the map. He has taken aggressive action to lure in businesses and to try to clean up a relatively negative reputation. Geographically New Mexico should be at or above the other southwestern states: much milder than Arizona, very low cost of living, good natural resources and scenery, etc. However, incredibly bad schools, crime, horrendous infrastructure and lack of productivity have left New Mexico way behind where it should be. If Richardson could turn things around, the state was exactly the kind of stepping stone to use to create a shining resume for national office.

Then comes the scandal, the dynamics of which could undermine the whole plan. The business climate has taken a major hit ... with outside businesses obviously concerned about making major commitments to a state (or even to Richardson himself) with corruption scandals in the highest offices. In addition, the corruption is exclusively a democrat scandal, and could ultimately spread across all branches of government like a New Mexico wildfire.

Note: there is no indication that Richardson himself is involved, and in fact I would guess that he would have taken hard measures to make sure it got cleaned up, perhaps quietly. Nonetheless, his efforts to ride this pony to the White House may have just taken a fatal hit.