2-27-07, 8:20 am

Progressives are not immune to the 'national pastime' of selecting ones favorite candidate for the Democratic Party presidential nomination for 2008. Along with present day 'favorites' such as Senator Obama (African American, with strong liberal and peace tendencies) and Senator Hillary Clinton ( a female potential) there is also the present governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson (a Latino with strong liberal and peace pronouncements) In a recent statement on his website promoting his candidacy for the presidency, Richardson sharply attacked George Bush on his policy towards Iran, stating that a military threat to Iran was wrong and urging diplomacy. He is also being quoted in the local press to the effect that if the United States wants countries such as North Korea and Iran to disarm their nuclear programs, that the United States should take the lead and dismantle first their own nuclear arsenal. This Richardson policy on foreign matters has always been one of his strongest points. In the campaign of 2006, during the crisis with North Korea, he urged direct negotiations. In all other matters in regards to foreign policy, he always advocated diplomacy. No other candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for 2008 has taken such a strong position on Peace. His position on Immigration New Mexico population is composed of 37% Latinos. For a state of over 1 ½ million people it had turnouts of over 3000 participants in the recent national demonstrations against the reactionary Sensenbrenner bill, that would have branded as criminals any person that sought to give help to undocumented aliens. So far the state has made it possible for undocumented persons to obtain drivers licenses and for students of undocumented workers to apply for university scholarships, as long as they met the scholarship requirements. With these events, in the background, that Governor Richardson made the following immigration policy statement at Georgetown University, December 7, 2006 :

'So I am calling on the Democratic Congress to act swiftly to work with the President and solve this problem (of 11 million illegal immigrants). And it can be solved by taking four realistic steps -- securing the border, increasing legal immigration, preventing employers from hiring illegal workers, and providing a path to legalization for most of the 11 million illegal immigrants already here.'

His present relations with Labor in New Mexico

Having carved for himself such a strong position on peace, one would think that here is a candidate to follow. Having won the gubernatorial campaign of 2006 with a voter approval of 67%, one would think that here's a man that we could all work with. Since his election as governor in 2002, he has established a solid reputation with New Mexico labor. One of his strongest contributors to his 2006 election campaign was Council 18 of AFSCME (Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees). True to his word in the election campaign of 2002, he saw to it that statewide collective bargaining for state employees was reinstated. He also agreed with the teacher's union that the educational employees needed an increase in pay and a more balanced pay scale. On his cabinet is a direct representative of the construction trades. This does not mean that there are no differences between his administration and labor and the community. Backed by a 6 billion dollar state permanent and education funds, whose income comes from percentages of oil and gas revenues, and becomes ever larger as a result of increases in world fuel prices, the Governor's administration is in a financial position to offer both tax cuts to small businesses and increased funding for schools in addition to offering a modest minimum wage increase. Led by New Mexico ACORN, AFSCME, and various community social and religious groups there is a legislative campaign going on today for an increase in the statewide minimum wage. Two pieces of legislation are up for debate. One bill sponsored by Speaker of the House Ben Lujan calls for an increase in the minimum wage in two stages; includes a cost of living increase; and exempts larger cities such as Albuquerque and Santa Fe from being frozen into the statewide formula, thereby allowing them to increase their minimum municipal wage to a higher level. The other bill sponsored by Senator Altamirano and advanced at the request of the governor and the statewide Chamber of Commerce, calls for a three-stage increase in the minimum wage to $7.50 an hour; no cost of living increase; and seeks to freeze large municipalities from going beyond the statewide level. As recently as February 13th, 2007, both bills were locked in the House Labor Committee with the statement from the senator that unless there was a compromise, no minimum wage bill would be forthcoming. This illustrates that the governor has some clout as to what type of minimum wage increase the working people of New Mexico will have. Richardson is a very pleasant and affable man. He is also a person that you can bargain with. He will always try to present some sort of compromise between capital and labor. Sometimes this works to the advantage of labor, and sometimes it doesn't. The Weaknesses of Bill Richardson In the past, up until 1994, as the Congressman from the 3rd Congressional District, he was a staunch opponent to the opening up of the Carlsbad Radioactive Waste Isolation Pilot Project. As soon as there appeared an opportunity for him to be nominated as a representative to the UN, he abruptly reversed himself. During his efforts as both UN ambassador and later as Secretary of Energy, he had no problem making various political agreements with conservative senators such as arch conservatives Senators Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond. These agreements greased the way for his subsequent appointments first to be the ambassador to the UN and then to Richardson being appointed Energy secretary. While today New Mexico labor has a fairly good rapport with the governor, when it comes to supporting him for President, a couple of important factors should be taken into account. In 1994, at the request of Bill Clinton, Richardson became the lead proponent in New Mexico in support of NAFTA. Later he also supported CAFTA. This is in line with his family relations to Citibank of Mexico and his various dealings with the past president of Mexico, Vicente Fox. An important point for today's consideration is what is his position on the Employees Free Choice Act? In the full array of Democratic contenders for the presidency of the United States, Richardson is the only Latino candidate, and to the outside world would seem on a par with many others. Certainly people would tend to compare him with the abilities and the pronouncements of Senator Obama and Senator Clinton. What progressives don't understand is that there are two sides to Bill Richardson—one, as the governor of the state of New Mexico and his relations with labor and the people; and the other, his projections to the outside world. His political personality is a reflection of the struggles being waged around him. Wherever there are strong movements by labor and the peace movement for peace and social progress, you can expect Richardson to reflect those sentiments. At the same time, if any of these movements become an obstacle to his personal ambitions, he will drop them like a hot potato.