Who I admire...

The following is a paper I wrote for school ,just thought I would share!

Abstract

Bill Richardson, New Mexico governor and president candidate for 2007-2008; was born in Pasadena, California. Bill Richardson was born in Mexico City, but his parents decided to send him to Massachusetts at the age of 13 to study at a preparatory school in the Boston area. Richardson was a baseball pitcher for Middlesex high School then later went to play for Tufts University. In Tufts he was a majored in French and political science. Later he earned a master’s degree from Tufts’ University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. When Bill was still in high school he got met his wife, Barbara Flavin and got married in 1972. Bill Richardson’s mother was Mexico and his father was from Nicaragua. His mother died in 1907, this is when Richardson and his two younger sisters moved from Nicaragua to Boston to live with their grandmother Vesta Hodsdon Richardson.

Bill Richardson’s Career

Bill Richardson was first elected to be New Mexico’s Governor in November 2002. He defeated the Republican candidate, John Sanchez. Bill took office starting January 2003 as the only Hispanic governor in the United States of America besides Governor Sila Maria Calderon from Puerto Rico. Richardson’s first year as governor he proposed to have tax cuts and promoted growth and investments which passed and a board personal and won statewide election to transfer money from the permanent states fund to pay for expenses and current projects.

In 2005, Bill Richardson provided $400,000 in life insurance coverage’s fro the New Mexico National Guardsmen who served active duty; he made New Mexico the first state to provide this benefit. Thirty-five states later then followed to provide the same benefit. In 2003 Richardson made and investment named (GRIP) Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership to fund public projects throughout New Mexico. These included highway funds, brand new rail lines such as the Rail Runner which is used from Albuquerque, Bernalillo, Santa Fe, and Belen.

Bill Richardson was credited by Forbes for naming Albuquerque, New Mexico the best City in the United States for business and careers in 2006. Richardson was rated one of the most fiscally responsible Democratic governors in the nation by the Cato Institute. In summer 2003 the delegation from North Korea requested to meet with Richardson to discuss over the countries concerns of nuclear energy uses. The White house also requested Bill Richardson to fly over to North Korea in 2005 to meet with another delegation in 2006. Richardson was named as the Special Envoy for Hemispheric Affairs on December 7, 2006 for the secretary general of the Organization of America States with the mandate to promote dialogue on issues of importance to the region like immigration and free trade. Richardson made partner with the billionaire Richard Branson in order to bring tourism to Las Cruces, New Mexico in December 2005.

On November 7, 2006, Bill Richardson won his second election for Governor for the state of New Mexico. He won against the former New Mexico Republican John Dendahl; Bill had the highest in votes than any other gubernatorial election in the state’s history. Richardson was the one responsible for the ban of cockfighting in New Mexico. In December 2006, he signed a bill which would end the cockfighting in New Mexico.

Governor Bill Richardson decided to sign a bill of law to legalize marijuana for the purposes of medicine in the state of New Mexico in the last legislative session; this made New Mexico the 12th state to legalize. Richardson stated he was not worried of having this decision harm his presidential election because he believes it was the right to have done.
United States Ambassador

Bill Richardson was named the U.S Ambassador to the United Nations in 1997 by former Bill Clinton; he was in charge to represent the United States in the United Nations. Richardson was also named U.S Secretary of Energy when he finished his ambassador back in 1998. He held the U.S. Secretary of Energy until Clinton finished his administration. Richardson was asked to interview Monica Lewinsky for a job position for the United Nations, he did and she declined according to his autobiography.

Education Beliefs

Bill Richardson called out for the minimum wage stand up to $40,000 a year for all teachers. He also called No Child Left Behind Act in a debate done on August 19th, 2007.
Conclusion

Bill Richardson has been elected Governor of New Mexico because the people believe in him; he gets done what he promises. He has been a great politician; this is why Bill Clinton confided on him with major responsibilities. Richardson believes in the rights of all people and takes our children’s education very seriously. Bill Richardson’s main concern is always to help the American people. This governor has touched the lives of many people and would be an excellent president as he has been the best governor for the state of New Mexico.

References

Irvine, Reed and Cliff Kincaid. (Aug. 1998) “Bill Richardson Caught in Clinton Undertow".

Media Monitor. Retrieved from http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/A3548_0_2_0_C/

Pickler, Nedra, (May 2007) “Richardson declares presidential campaign”. The Denver Post. Retrieved from http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_5950108,

New Mexico State Investment Council. (2007) “Council Members: Governor Bill Richardson”. Retrieved from http://www.sic.state.nm.us/governor.htm

Santa Fe New Mexican. (Dec. 2006) “Governor will support a ban on cockfighting”. Retrieved from http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/54348.html

KRQE News 13. (March 2007) “Cockfighting Outlawed”. Retrieved from http://www.krqe.com/

Baker, Deborah. (March 2007) “Santafenewmexico.com” Retrieved from http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/58643.html

Bill Richardson for Presidential Exploratory Committee. (Jan. 2007) “RichardsonForPresident.com News Room”. Retrieved from http://action.richardsonforpresident.com/page/content/20070121a/
Falcone, Michael. (Nov. 2007) “Richardson Classifies Gay Gaffe”. New York Times. Retrieved from http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/richardson-clarifies-gay-gaffe