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Two North Korean diplomats are in Santa Fe and will meet with Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday. A spokesman for Richardson said a delegation from the North Korean mission to the United Nations will meet at the governor's mansion for a daylong meeting but the topic was not disclosed. The North Koreans had requested the visit, but the governor's office said Richardson will not be negotiating nor will he be representing the Obama administration. The delegation, which includes Minister Myong Gil Kim and Councilor Jong Ho Paek, also are scheduled to receive briefings on renewable energy initiatives in New Mexico...

The DNCC announced the speakers for the prime-time slot on Wednesday night of the convention, and the list is intriguing. Wednesday night is when the VP nominee addresses the convention, and CNN scrutinizes the list for a hint on Barack Obama’s choice Former president Bill Clinton will address the delegates, as will Harry Reid, Ken Salazar, and Jay Rockefeller. Alexander Mooney focuses on two other speakers, but misses an obvious third choice: The two senators widely believed to be at the top of Barack Obama’s shortlist for VP have been given prime-time speaking slots at the Democratic convention Wednesday night...

Gov. Bill Richardson is back and so is the Legislature. Lawmakers convene Tuesday for a 30-day session and the governor will map out his priorities during a State of the State speech to a joint meeting of the House and Senate. Richardson said his speech will have a simple message for legislators: "Health care. Health care. Health care.'' "It's going to be an address saying that we have a responsibility in this Legislature, with the governor, to produce universal health care for every New Mexican and to start it with a comprehensive bill — not piece meal,'' Richardson said. Also...

Gov. Bill Richardson on Friday ordered a six-month moratorium on minerals drilling in the Galisteo Basin south of Santa Fe. Richardson's announcement came as good news to opponents of Tecton Energy's plan to explore for oil and gas near the communities of Cerrillos and Galisteo. "It's a fragile ecosystem," Richardson, just off the presidential campaign trail, said during a wide-ranging news conference at the Roundhouse. "I have serious reservations about drilling in the Galisteo Basin." The moratorium will allow Tecton to continue with the application process with the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division, but prohibits the division from approving new...

DES MOINES, Iowa— After a long list of phone calls to potential Iowa presidential voters, New Mexico Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught can recite her political sales pitch by heart. "Hi. I'm Rhonda Faught," she says in her best phone voice when asked for an example. "I'm calling on behalf of Governor Bill Richardson ... and I would love to talk to you about some of the great things the governor is doing in New Mexico. Do you have a minute?" Faught is among the scores of New Mexicans— many of them high-level Richardson state appointees volunteering on their own time—...

Democratic New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called on President Bush to force Musharraf to step down. Until then, Richardson said the U.S. must suspend military aid to the Pakistani government. "A leader has died, but democracy must live. The United States government cannot stand by and allow Pakistan's return to democracy to be derailed or delayed by violence," Richardson said.

SANTA FE — Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson has a Christmas wish for some of the state government employees in his administration: pack your bags and head to Iowa. The two-term governor is asking governmental appointees and other state employees to volunteer to help his campaign by traveling to Iowa before the Jan. 3 leadoff presidential contest Several of the governor's top administrators already have hit the campaign trail in Iowa and New Hampshire. Others plan to be in Iowa for the critical final days before the caucus.

<p>A new group of critics is taking on Gov. Bill Richardson, calling him a bully and asking for others to speak up.</p> <p>A blog, starting online Sunday, will encourage people to talk on the Internet— anonymously if they want— about being targeted for retaliation by Richardson or his staff, members said.</p>

Four people were indicted Thursday in an alleged kickback scheme that?s at the core of the debate over the firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias. Former state Senate President Pro Tem Manny Aragon, Toby Martinez, Raul Parra and Sandra Mata Martinez all face charges. The U.S. attorney?s office in Albuquerque says Marc Schiff, Ken Schultz and Manuel Guara had already entered guilty pleas in the case. Investigators say the kickbacks were related to the construction of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Courthouse in Albuquerque. Iglesias believes he was fired as the federal prosecutor for New Mexico for resisting pressure from Senator...

SANDIA PUEBLO, N.M. (AP) - For $2,300, the maximum individual donation allowed, contributors became "Friends of Bill"; for $1,000, donors became "Supporters of Bill" as Gov. Bill Richardson aimed at a $2 million goal in a single fundraiser. It was the largest fundraiser in New Mexico history, according to Richardson's fledgling Democratic presidential campaign. The governor and first lady Barbara Richardson attended Thursday night's gala at Sandia Resort, but the campaign did not release a guest list. "Most of these people are typical high-dollar donors," said Terry Brunner, state director for Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a primary co-host of...

SANTA FE New Mexico is taking its fight against drunken driving to men's restrooms around the state. The state has ordered 500 talking urinal cakes that will deliver a recorded anti-D-W-I message to bar and restaurant patrons who make one last pit stop before getting behind the wheel. The top of the devices feature the state D-W-I slogan -- "You drink, you drive, you lose." Some Albuquerque bars installed the devices this week. And the state Transportation Department plans to distribute them to Santa Fe bars and restaurants as well as establishments in Farmington, Gallup and Las Cruces. The state...

WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said Thursday the United States must lead the way on global struggles by reducing its nuclear weapons, closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and dramatically cutting energy use. In the first foreign policy address of his nascent candidacy, Richardson indicated he would reverse many Bush administration policies if he is elected to the White House in 2008. The New Mexico governor and former diplomat called his proposals "new realism." "This administration's lack of realism has led us to a dangerous place," Richardson said during a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies....

Jan. 19, 2007 at 12:11PM New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who served in Bill Clinton's Cabinet, plans to establish his presidential exploratory committee Monday, UPI has learned.       A source close to Richardson, a Democrat, told United Press International Friday, "Richardson will announce his exploratory committee on Monday."

Attorney General Patricia Madrid said Friday that a request by a Republican legislator for an investigation into Gov. Bill Richardson's hiring practices is "neither appropriate or warranted." Sen. Kent Cravens, R-Albuquerque, and other legislators signing onto the letter, "have neither allegations or presented any evidence that a public servant has received pay for services not rendered," Madrid said in a news release. The legislators earlier this year asked Madrid for an inquiry after news reports about Richardson's hiring of dozens of so-called "gov-ex temp" employees. Those employees are in jobs created and filled outside of the state's normal hiring process...

The Bill Richardson campaign-money machine kept churning last month. In his bid for a second term as governor, Democrat Richardson took in more than $824,000 last month, according to his campaign-finance report filed with the state Thursday. That brings the total he has raised for re-election to more than $8 million -- about the same amount he raised for his 2002 campaign. Richardson, who has at least a dozen full-time employees on his campaign staff, spent more than $1.5 million last month, leaving just under $5 million in the bank. Meanwhile, Richardson's Republican opponent, John Dendahl, was not able to...

Gov. Bill Richardson recently made a quick-turnaround trip to Chicago to take part in an immigration forum— scoring some Windy City press coverage in the process. Richardson was in Chicago June 11 for an immigration panel discussion at the annual conference of the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.-- snip -- Richardson's comments at the gathering were the subject of a Chicago Sun-Times news story and a news spot on a CBS television station there. "Yes, we have to strengthen our border security, but we also have to protect the millions of immigrants who are already in America," the Sun-Times quoted...

Damron withdraws from gubernatorial race; former GOP chairman replaces him Last Update: 06/17/2006 6:12:59 PM By: Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Former state Republican party chairman John Dendahl is the party’s new nominee to challenge Democratic Governor Bill Richardson. State Republican Party Chairman Allen Weh says Dendahl, 67, was nominated by unanimous voice vote Saturday at a Republican State Central Committee meeting in Albuquerque.

Gov. Bill Richardson's re-election campaign has supporters from coast to coast, and many of them have hefty checkbooks, a Journal analysis found. Nearly half of the $3.7 million in cash contributions Richardson has raised the past year came from donors listing addresses outside of New Mexico, a breakdown of his latest disclosure for the 2006 campaign shows. But nearly three-quarters of all donors are from New Mexico, pointed out Richardson campaign manager Amanda Cooper. She said 72 percent of the contributors, or more than 2,000 donors, on Richardson's 300-plus-page report have New Mexico addresses. "It's a strong show of support...

Barbara Damron, wife of Republican gubernatorial candidate Dr. J.R. Damron, says she was “pressured” to resign from the St. Vincent Regional Medical Center’s governing board by hospital officials who feared retribution from Gov. Bill Richardson. Barbara Damron said in an interview this week that St. Vincent chief executive officer Alex Valdez told her “he had heard comments around the Roundhouse that my being on the hospital board was jeopardizing the hospital’s getting our requested funds.” The hospital was seeking $4 million to expand the emergency room at Santa Fe’s nonprofit general hospital. A Richardson spokesman denied the governor, a Democrat...

SANTA FE— Gov. Bill Richardson vetoed Republican-sponsored capital outlay projects twice as often as projects sought by Democratic legislators, a Journal analysis found. The Democratic governor used his line-item veto to strike nearly 33 percent of the projects sponsored by Republicans. Democratic sponsors lost only about 15-percent of their projects. Richardson made the cuts in the $762 million capital outlay bill passed during the 30-day legislative session that ended February 16. The analysis found that lawmakers who either have been outspoken critics of the governor or who opposed key legislation in the recent session were more likely than Richardson allies...