Team Obama: Richardson misled us
posted at 5:06 pm on January 4, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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It looks as if Barack Obama and his transition team know how badly Bill Richardson’s resignation reflects on them. They have started leaking to the press that Richardson’s to blame for the embarrassing spectacle this afternoon of his withdrawal as a Cabinet nominee. Jake Tapper has the details:
Sources tell ABC News that officials on the Obama Transition Team feel that before he was formally offered the job of commerce secretary, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was not forthcoming with them about the federal investigation that is looking into whether the governor steered a state contract towards a major financial contributor.
Once the investigation became more widely known through national media reports last month, sources tell ABC News, the Obama Transition Team realized the FBI would not be able to give Richardson a clean political bill of health before the new administration is ready to send his nomination up to the Senate for confirmation.
Meanwhile, Richardson and his team has to defend themselves:
The Richardson camp says the governor was forthcoming, with sources close to the governor noting that there had been reports about the controversy in local media such as the Albuquerque Journal as far back as August 2008. The governor discussed the investigation with the Obama team, they say, and believes that he and his administration have done nothing wrong.
I’d guess that Richardson probably didn’t disclose the extent of the problem. Richardson feels it necessary to resign now after the published reports from the last three weeks, but he had to know these issues when he accepted the position. If all that has happened since December 15th is that the facts he disclosed to Team Obama were made public, it would hardly require a resignation now.
But beyond that, this is a pretty lame attempt to shift blame away from the incoming administration. They should have done their own homework on Richardson once they heard about the investigation. In the end, they have the responsibility to make acceptable appointments for Cabinet positions. If the extent of the vetting Team Obama is doing is reading resumés and accepting explanations for federal investigations without question or further checking, then they’re pretty obviously incompetent at it.
They also seem to have no compunction about calling Richardson a liar in public. I wonder how that will play politically with their base.
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And there goes Horatio Sanz job at SNL for the next four years..
DaveC on January 5, 2009 at 4:25 PM
No. We don’t.
And neither should you.
[do i really need the sarc tag?]
soundingboard on January 5, 2009 at 5:05 PM
Bill Richardson. There’s more to this than meets the eye, and I want to remind that you we told you first about this scandal back in December. The Prowler at the American Spectator has some incredible information. “The Obama transition team was aware of … Bill Richardson’s relationship with the firm currently being investigated, CDR Financial Products, because Richardson had introduced the firm’s founder, David Rubin, to Obama fundraisers during the Democrat convention in Denver last August. Richardson withdrew his name from nomination for Commerce Secretary due to a grand jury investigation into possible financial dealings between his New Mexico administration and Rubin’s firm, CDR Financial. But it isn’t just Obama and Richardson that Rubin has ties to.
“According to federal law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation, federal officials are also looking into CDR’s political and financial ties to ["Fast Eddie" Rendell of Pennsylvania], as well as to Democrat state and local officials in Illinois, California, Florida, and Pennsylvania.” By the way, this outfit also was involved in — I remember the original December story. This outfit was involved in some chicanery in Alabama, I think, as well. Now, Fast Eddie “Rendell placed Rubin on a political patronage commission in Pennsylvania, and Rubin was also given a seat on a Los Angeles City commission back in 2002… Rubin has also been a financial supporter of Rev. Al Sharpton.” Now, Rubin is David Rubin, who is heads of the CDR Financial Products company, which is at the center of the grand jury investigation of Bill Richardson.
“CDR also had close business ties to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, marketing and selling financial instruments created through low-income housing ‘lease to own’ programs across the country.” Folks, this is one giant cesspool, and it’s not just in Chicago. It is throughout the Democrat Party. The corruption is incredible. However, it is a mistake to bring this up. It will persuade nobody. The truth does not matter right now. This is an unfortunate distraction, and I am simply a small-minded partisan seeking to upset the most historically important presidential inauguration and administration in our nation’s history. None of this (ripping up paper), none of this is relevant, especially now that Richardson has taken himself out. He’s no longer up for commerce secretary.
This doesn’t matter. It never happened, it never existed. Obama is too big to fail. “[A]fter a number of embarrassing investigations into alleged IRS investigations into back-door deals related to municipal bond financing in Atlanta and other localities in the late 1990s, the firm’s name was changed …” This bunch has been manipulating the muni bond market doing a bunch of things raising money for these governors in some of these states, cities; you know, mayors and to, and it’s Democrat all the way down to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But, truth right now doesn’t matter especially if it gets in the way. (EIB)
Keemo on January 5, 2009 at 6:23 PM
This thread has been up for a while, but I just now noticed that Lightworker looks like a game show host in the accompanying photo.
Fab.
Y-not on January 5, 2009 at 8:00 PM
I am so surprised we have not heard an outcry from the hispanic community, crying “fraud, fraud” senor Bill did nothing wrong, he would have told us if he did!! I hope they realized that they too were used and abused by the one. Having fun yet kids???
clinker46 on January 5, 2009 at 10:54 PM
Thats not the Bill Richardson that I know :)
Paco on January 5, 2009 at 11:57 PM
Thank you,I will make the corrections.
Baxter Greene on January 6, 2009 at 1:25 AM
Down under the boss goes Bill. Full disclosure by Bill versus Inadequate vetting by Obama?
Quite obvious Obama does not adhere to rigorous vetting, as the playah played him.
thetowncrier on January 6, 2009 at 2:20 AM
Well said
And when your momentum is countered, you often retain a net gain.
p.s. your software is very useful. It takes art and science to plumb the net, especially as the major search engines have begun subverting search results
entagor on January 6, 2009 at 12:59 PM
For some reason the photo with this story makes me want to say “Pull My Finger.”
cannonball on January 6, 2009 at 6:02 PM
Comment pages: « 1 2 3 4 [5]