NEWS

Richardson touts experience at Portsmouth appearance

02/18/2007

Richardson touts experience at Portsmouth appearance

By GRETYL MACALASTER

Staff Writer

Foster's Daily Democrat

PORTSMOUTH — New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson entertained an audience of over 100 at River Run Bookstore Saturday afternoon, keeping the mood light while offering his perspectives on foreign and domestic issues.

Richardson, who is admittedly an underdog candidate, comes with more experience than many other candidates.

His roles as Secretary of Energy under former President Bill Clinton, ambassador to the United Nations, and United States congressman put him in a unique position to discuss America's energy dependence and diplomatic relations.

His sense of humor and charismatic grin kept the crowd at the independently owned bookstore laughing throughout his 45 minutes of remarks.

People packed spaces between bookshelves and behind the counter and cheered Richardson from word one on getting troops out of Iraq by the end of the calendar year through diplomacy.

"America needs to find a way to talk to those who we don't talk to," Richardson said.

Richardson said he applauded President George W. Bush's efforts to engage in talks with North Korea directly and bilaterally over nuclear weapons.

Having been part of negotiations that led to the release of hostages in Iraq, North Korea and Cuba through talks with Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro, and most recently helping to garner a fragile cease fire in Darfur, Sudan, Richardson believes the U.S. needs to do more to engage countries like Iran and Syria instead of threatening violence.

"We need to find a way to restore America as a foundation of international law," Richardson said.

Richardson has adopted renewable energy policies in New Mexico to reduce the state's dependence on oil, something he would like to make happen at the national level.

Richardson said the first thing he would do as president is re-sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international pact to reduce carbon emissions and greenhouse gases to help stem global warming.

"Because the planet is saying something to us and the oceans and the best scientists in the world are saying global warming is man-made," Richardson said.

Richardson also proposed a light rail system instead of the addition of more and more roadways in the country.

United States dependence on foreign oil is of great concern to Richardson.

"Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela ... can I say we are not the best friends list of any of these countries ... we are vulnerable," Richardson said.

He would not support any effort to go to war with Iran.

A supporter of education and a believer that every student should have the opportunity to go to college, Richardson said after the event that he would make serious changes to the No Child Left Behind Act.

Starting with funding the mandate, he would stop the punishment of schools that are underperforming and focus on teacher training instead of just standardized testing.

Being governor of a border state, Richardson is also intimately familiar with immigration issues and answered audience questions about how he would deal with the influx of immigrants.

In response, Richardson said he does not think a wall will work and that it is a terrible symbol. He believes Mexico should be helping to stem the flow of immigrants and that those who hire illegal workers should be punished.

Increased border patrols and setting up a legalization plan for the 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. would be part of Richardson's efforts.

Many in the audience perused Richardson's new book, "Between Worlds: The Making of An American Life" while waiting for the presidential hopeful, who was running about 20 minutes late. Richardson planned to fly back to New Mexico Saturday night after a stop in Hampton.