Bill Richardson
William Blaine Richardson III (November 15, 1947 – September 1, 2023) was an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was also the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and energy secretary in the Clinton administration, a U.S. congressman, chair of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and chair of the Democratic Governors Association.
For other people named Bill Richardson, see Bill Richardson (disambiguation).
Bill Richardson
Bill Clinton
Constituency established
September 1, 2023 (aged 75)
Chatham, Massachusetts, U.S.
Tufts University (BA, MA)
In December 2008, Richardson was nominated for the cabinet-level position of Secretary of Commerce in the first Obama administration[1] but withdrew a month later, as he was being investigated for possible improper business dealings.[2][3][4] Although the investigation was later dropped, it damaged Richardson's popularity and diminished his influence as his second and final term as New Mexico governor concluded.[5]
Richardson occasionally provided advice on diplomatic issues pertaining to North Korea and visited the nation on several occasions, including efforts to release American detainees.[6] He completed a number of private humanitarian missions, one of which secured the release of U.S. journalist Danny Fenster from a Myanmar prison in November 2021.[7]
Early political career[edit]
After college, Richardson worked for Republican Congressman F. Bradford Morse from Massachusetts from 1971 to 1973. In 1974, he left to work on congressional relations for the Kissinger State Department during the Nixon administration. Between 1976 and 1978 he was a staff member for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.[22][23]
Ambassador to the United Nations[edit]
Richardson served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from February 1997 to August 1998. In 1997, working alongside Nelson Mandela, he helped negotiate the transfer of power between Mobutu Sese Seko and Laurent-Désiré Kabila at the conclusion of the First Congo War.[36][37] In 1998 he flew to Afghanistan to meet with the Taliban and Abdul Rachid Dostum, an Uzbek warlord.[38] The ceasefire he believed he had negotiated with the help of Bruce Riedel of the National Security Council failed to hold;[39] neither was he successful in convincing the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden.[40]
Allegations of corruption[edit]
According to his autobiography, while serving as United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson was asked by the White House in 1997 to interview Monica Lewinsky for a job on his staff. Richardson did so, and later offered her a position which she declined.[23][96]
The American Spectator alleged that Richardson knew more about the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal than he declared to the grand jury.[97]
In 2011, Richardson was under investigation for his role in alleged campaign finance violations. A former member of Richardson's campaign claimed that during Richardson's 2008 presidential campaign, Richardson and members of his campaign paid an unknown woman $250,000 to keep her from exposing an alleged affair they had in 2004.[98][99]
During the 2012 trial United States of America v. Carollo, Goldberg and Grimm, the former CDR employee Doug Goldberg testified that he was involved in giving Bill Richardson campaign contributions amounting to $100,000 in exchange for his company CDR being hired to handle a $400 million swap deal for the New Mexico state government. During his testimony, Doug Goldberg stated that he had been given an envelope containing a check for $25,000 payable to Moving America Forward, Bill Richardson's political action committee, by his boss Stewart Wolmark and told to deliver it to Bill Richardson at a fund raiser. When Goldberg handed the envelope to Richardson, he allegedly told Goldberg to "Tell the big guy [Stewart Wolmark] I'm going to hire you guys". Goldberg went on to testify that CDR was hired but that he later learned that another firm was hired by Richardson to perform the actual work required and that Stewart Wolmark had given Richardson a further $75,000 in contributions.[100]
In 2019 it was revealed that Richardson was among those named in court documents from a civil suit between Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell. The documents were unsealed on August 9, 2019, a day before Epstein's death.[101][102] Giuffre alleges that she was sexually trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to several high-profile individuals, including Richardson, while she was underage in the early 2000s.[103][101] Court documents from 2015 that were unsealed in 2019 alleged Richardson's possible involvement with the Jeffrey Epstein child trafficking ring, which allegations he denied.[104] A spokesperson for Richardson also denied the claims, stating that he did not know Giuffre and had never seen Epstein in the presence of young or underage girls.[103] Richardson released a statement in August 2019, saying he had offered his assistance in the investigation of Epstein to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Richardson's attorney, Jeff Brown of Dechert LLP, later said that he was informed by the assistant US attorney that Richardson is neither a target, subject, nor witness in the case and that there is no allegation against Richardson that the government is actively investigating.[105]
Private diplomacy[edit]
Richardson visited North Korea a number of times, and was involved in negotiations with the leadership there since the early 1990s. In 1996, he accompanied U.S. State Department officials and successfully negotiated the release of Evan Hunziker, the first American civilian to be arrested by North Korea on espionage charges since the end of the Korean War.[106]
In 2011, he was again appointed as a special envoy of the Organization of American States.[107][108] Richardson formed a foundation, the Richardson Center, to help negotiate the release of political prisoners globally.[109]
In January 2013, he led a delegation to North Korea of business leaders, including Google chairman Eric Schmidt, shortly after the state launched an orbital rocket.[110] Richardson called the trip a "private, humanitarian" mission by U.S. citizens. He tried unsuccessfully to speak to North Korean officials about the detention of Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen accused of committing "hostile" acts against the state, and sought to visit him, but was only able to deliver to authorities a letter from Bae's son.[111][112] (Bae was released in November 2014.)
In March 2016, at the request of Ohio Governor John Kasich, Richardson unsuccessfully negotiated for the release of Cincinnati college student Otto Warmbier, who had been detained on a visit to North Korea.[6][109] Warmbier was eventually released in a vegetative state in June 2017, and died in Cincinnati later that same month.[113]
In November 2021, Richardson undertook a mission to Myanmar, where he negotiated with military junta head Min Aung Hlaing, and secured the release of U.S. journalist Danny Fenster from an 11-year prison sentence.[114][115][7]
Shortly before his death, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by four Democratic senators for his role in hostage diplomacy seeking the release of 15 political prisoners, including professional basketball player Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed.[116][117]
Post-gubernatorial career[edit]
In 2011, Richardson joined the boards of APCO Worldwide company Global Political Strategies as chairman,[118] the World Resources Institute,[119] the National Council for Science and the Environment,[120] and Abengoa (international advisory board).[121]
In 2012, Richardson joined the advisory board of Grow Energy and Refugees International. He was a member of Washington, D.C.-based Western Hemisphere think tank, the Inter-American Dialogue.[122]
In December 2012, Richardson became chairman of the Board of Directors of Car Charging Group, the largest independent owner and operator of public electric vehicle charging stations in the United States. In 2013 Richardson joined the Board of Advisors for the Fuel Freedom Foundation.[123]
Death[edit]
Richardson died at his summer house in Chatham, Massachusetts, on September 1, 2023, at age 75.[124]