Leader of a Galactic Enterprise!Bill Richardson is serving his second term as the 30th Governor of New Mexico and is a Democratic candidate for the 2008 U.S. presidential election.
Richardson was born William Blaine Richardson in Pasadena, California to William Blaney Richardson and Maria Luisa Lopez-Collada. His father is the son of Boston naturalist, William Blaney Richardson. His mother, Maria Luisa Lopez-Collada, was from Mexico. Richardson was raised in Mexico City where his father held an executive position at Citibank. At the age of 13, Richardson and his family moved to Massachusetts where he attended high school at Middlesex School in Concord.
Richardson played baseball in high school and for Tufts University. He received a bachelor's degree in political science from Tufts and his Masters of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from The Fletcher School of Tufts University. He belonged to the fraternity, Delta Tau Delta.
Following college, Richardson worked for the State Department then the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He moved to Santa Fe in 1978 and ran for Congress that year but lost to Congressman Manuel Lujan. Richardson was elected four years later to a newly created district representing the northern territory of New Mexico. He served in congress for over 14 years.
During his time in congress, Richardson visited Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, Peru, India, North Korea, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan, and Baghdad. In 1995, he played a key role in negotiations with Saddam Hussein to release two Americans in aerospace who had been captured by Iraqis over the Kuwait border.
In 1997, then president, Bill Clinton appointed Richardson U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. In 1998, he was reappointed U.S. Secretary of Energy and served as such for the remainder of the Clinton administration.
During Richardson's tenure as secretary of energy was the Wen Ho Lee scandal, involving espionage of nuclear information to the Chinese. A federal judge accused Richardson of leaking Lee's name to the press before the scientist was actually charged with a crime.
In 2002 Richardson was elected governor of New Mexico winning 56% of the vote. In 2003 he was the only hispanic governor in the United States.
As governor, Richardson focused his efforts on increasing the state's income and spending by means of tax cuts and tapping into the state's funds to cover state expenses. He formed the Governor Richardson's Investment Partnership (GRIP), in 2003, to fund public projects to improve the state's infrastructure. The funds have been applied to new highways and a commuter rail, the Rail Runner Express (RPR), that runs between central Albuquerque and the rural community of Bernalillo.
In 2005, because of Richardson, New Mexico became the first state in the nation to provide its national guardsman a life insurance fund of $400,000. Also that year, Richardson announced the state's partnership with billionaire and media mogul, Sir Richard Branson, in establishing space tourism at the Southwest Regional Space Port near Las Cruces, New Mexico. Branson, CEO of Virgin Companies, will attempt to build Virgin Galactic, the world's first spaceport.
Richardson was reelected governor in 2006 with 68% of the vote.
He has announced his support to ban cockfighting in New Mexico. Louisiana is the only other state to allow the controversial sport.
Richardson owned a gambling business, Generation 2000 LLC, with Bill Ensign (family member of Senator John Ensign) which they sold as the Pahrump Nugget casino in November 2006.
In 2007, Richardson announced his intent to join other Democratic nominees,
Barack Obama and
Hillary Clinton, in the run for the 2008 U.S. presidential election. If elected he would become the first hispanic president.
Richardson met his wife, Barbara Flavin, while in Boston. Barbara Richardson is a family advocate and activist. Her service includes: chair for Read Across America, chair of Big Brothers/Big Sisters First Lady's Bowl for Kids Sake, chairman of the Governor's Domestic Violence Advisory Board and honorary chair for the New Mexico Immunization Coalition. | 
