With His Future Wide Open, Richardson Still Very Focused on the Present

While Imus was in New Mexico this morning, Governor Bill Richardson was in Washington, DC, where he’ll give some environmental speeches before jetting home to be as close to Imus as possible.

As Governor of a border state, Richardson’s views on Arizona’s new immigration law were less favorable than expected. “I think it’s a bad law,” he said plainly. “I think the best thing that could happen is that it not be implemented, that the Obama administration plan a lawsuit saying this is federal jurisdiction.”

Ultimately, Richardson wants to see a comprehensive immigration reform bill make its way through Congress. “President Obama is trying to do it, President Bush tried to do it, to his credit,” said Richardson. That bill would have improved border security; clamped down on people who hire illegal immigrants; and established a path toward legalization for those already here.

Unlike Arizona’s law, which Richardson said gives police officers the right to demand citizenship or identity papers from anybody he or she deems “suspicious.” He maintained this practice is illegal, and that it will lead to racial profiling.

“I think this is hurting Arizona; it’s hurting it economically, image-wise,” he said, and gave the federal government some credit for announcing 1,200 additional national border guards were being sent to New Mexico and Arizona. Richardson added, “But we need a permanent solution.”

A former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Richardson has dealt extensively with the Korean Peninsula, and said today that he has never before seen this much tension between North and South Korea.

“It’s because of the recent decision of North Korea to cut of all ties to South Korea, all communication,” he said. “In the past, there was a lot of tension, but at least they talked to each other.”

Following a torpedo attack on a South Korean ship that killed 46 people in March, and was allegedly carried out by the North, the U.S. has stood firmly with the South. But Richardson believes China will play a key role in easing the strain.

“China is probably the one entity that can diplomatically push North Korea and say, hey, cool it, don’t do anything,” said the Governor, who also served as Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration, and holds a strong opinion about the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.

“Needless to say, I’m losing patience with BP,”  he said. “I think the administration made the right response in getting all the resources there, but in the end, you know, maybe it’s going to take the federal government to say, okay, we’re taking this whole thing over.”

As for what he’ll do when the next Governor of New Mexico takes over later this year, Richardson has no long-term plans. In the short term, however, look for him in any of the 30 Major League Baseball stadiums, all of which he plans to visit.

After that, he told Imus, “I’m going to become a cowboy.”

-Julie Kanfer