Monday, January 5, 2009

RICHARDSON MEETS THE PRESS

For the first time since mid December, Gov. Bill Richardson met with New Mexico reporters.

He gave a brief statement, basically saying the same thing he did in his written release on Sunday.

I asked him what Lt. Gov. Diane Denish's initial reaction was. "We had been having conversations prior to that about, you know, a potential delay. She was disappointed, but she emphasized she wanted us to work closely together as we always have been. And as I've said, I think she's going to make a very fine governor some day."

Richardson refused to answer a question whether his administration had conducted an internal investigation of the CDR contract. He also wouldn't say whether he'd hired a lawyer. (I wrote about that a couple of weeks ago.)

The governor almost showed a bit of emotion at one point during the news conference. "You know, yesterday, I was hurting over this decision," Richardson said, speaking uncharacteristically slowly as if he was deliberating over each word. "I lost a cabinet appointment."

Then he resumed his political personality. "But I think we have to focus on what people are losing in this country. You know the American people, people in New Mexico, are losing jobs. They're losing their savings. They're losing their homes. That's the real tragedy. You know, mine is minor compare to that."

Here's the audio.
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