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So it appears that my governor, Bill Richardson (D-NM), is going to Washington DC to assist President Elect Obama during his tenure in office. The majority of hispanics and civil rights leaders will view this as yet another great event in American political history. 

There are a few things that we need to remind ourselves of before we line the streets with praise as the wagon hitches up to go back east. 

Bill Richardson graduated from a school of law and diplomacy; he was a key diplomat to North Korea during the Clinton administration as well as the secretary of the Department of Energy. Richardson is a diplomat, not an economist. He has done great things for the New Mexican economy, such as creating tax credits for movies filmed in the state, (a few of the most prominent are Terminator 4 and the Transformers series) which has grown the states whole economy. Our largest city, Albuquerque, has grown approximately 3%/year the last few, despite the national economy not doing so hot. 

However, (the dreaded however), he has done a few things that New Mexican’s are not so fond of. One of the most despised was the purchase of a jet aircraft for personal use on the states budget. To make a long story short, he found some wiggle room in the legalities of purchasing the plane, wrote it off as use for a small school for deaf and blind children and then found out the state legislature was less than happy with him about this, so he/they got rid of the plane. The state still maintains a small propeller aircraft for state use. 

Another reason for hesitation is known as the “rail-runner”. This is a quick commuter train around Albuquerque’s metropolitan area and suburbs, with an extension line to Santa Fe being opened later this month. In theory, its been a widely popular idea, a small train in which people can ride it to make it to work, our annual balloon fiesta or wherever they’d like to go, but thats all it has been for about 20 years. Would you like to know why it has taken so long to implement? It’s expensive. It’s VERY expensive. Not to mention paying deciding who is going to pay for it has been a problem. Richardson has been pushing very strongly for this project to be completed for years and now that it is finally going to be completed, lets just say it’s reminiscent of former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson. 

Back to his diplomatic skills, this may not be the best fit for the Secretary of Commerce (its not even the position Richardson actually wanted), however he might boost international trade with these skills.