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Latino groups push Richardson for Secretary of State
The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of 26 Latino groups, sent a letter to President-elect Barack Obama this week urging him to appoint New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to be the next Secretary of State.
Richardson campaigned hard for Obama after his own presidential bid fizzled.
John Trasvina, chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, said: “No one is more qualified to serve as our country’s chief diplomat than Gov. Bill Richardson. He helped free hostages in North Korea, Iraq, Sudan, and Cuba, secured an agreement protecting refugees in Afghanistan, negotiated a peaceful transfer of power in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and brokered a cease-fire in the troubled region of Darfur. He is not just a Democratic Party leader or an Hispanic community leader - he is an American leader.”
Richardson spent much of his childhood in Mexico, the birthplace of his mother. He often campaigned in Spanish.
His accompishments include:
— Two-term governor of New Mexico. First elected in 2002. Re-elected with almost 70 percent of the vote.
— Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, where he oversaw a Democratic takeover of the majority of the nation’s governorships.
— Member of Congress, 1982-1997.
— Secretary of energy in the Clinton administration.
— U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, where he gained high marks for his tenure. In that post, he interviewed and offered a job to intern Monica Lewinsky at the behest of the White House, therefore becoming involved in the scandal that led to President Clinton’s impeachment.
— Negotiated the release of two U.S. contractor employees in Iraq in 1995. The visit included an intense meeting with former dictator Saddam Hussein, who first stormed out of the room after Richardson inadvertently offended him by crossing his legs and showing him the dirty bottom of his shoe, according to an account in Richardson’s biography.
— Also traveled to North Korea, Sudan and Cuba to help win freedom for captives.
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