With Energy To Spare

I didn't get state fair duty with Bill, but I did get Utah, where it was also a struggle to keep pace. In 1999, as energy secretary he asked me to research an obscure issue: the disposition of a Naval oil reserve property in northeastern Utah. When I told him that the reserve was, in effect, a "doughnut hole" in the Northern Ute Indian reservation, carved out for the Navy in 1916, Bill directed me to return the land to the Utes.

At the time, he was also grappling with health and environmental issues associated with uranium mill tailings along a river in southwest Utah. Richardson instructed me to "package" the land transfer with the tailings cleanup. I protested this pairing of unrelated issues at opposite ends of the state. His response was true to form: "Just do it," a frequent instruction when staff members pointed out practical difficulties, often followed by "Do it now."

We ended up returning the property to the Utes, with an agreement that the riverfront would be protected according to environmentalists' concerns. Royalties would be paid to DOE for any gas production on the reserve, and that money would pay for the mill cleanup.

I was on a plane to Utah to participate in a signing of the agreement before we actually had one -- Interior was a holdout until I was in the air. True to form, Bill was pushing his staff and pushing the signatories over the finish line.

-- Melanie Kinderdine, aide to Richardson in Congress and the Energy Department.

* * *

The first time I met Bill Richardson was the day after I had won my party's nomination for governor in 2002 when we both happened to be flying down to Las Cruces, N.M.

When we realized we'd be landing at the same time, we quickly arranged all the formalities and met on the tarmac to shake hands, very politely. And then he looked at me and put his finger into my chest and poked me and said: "Listen, John, we have to run a very clean campaign. Just remember: Keep it clean." Three months later, he had spent $3 million to $5 million doing nothing but attacking me. I can recall traveling in a car through the most desolate area of the state, listening to a radio station out of some tiny town. In a very short time, we had heard two or three radio commercials for Richardson. There wasn't a station we could turn to without hearing about him, in English or Spanish. He bought up every bit of radio advertising time. We had tried to respond, but it was like going up against an M1 Abrams tank with a small sword.

-- John Sanchez, 2002 Republican candidate for New Mexico governor.