Why Not To Get On Bill Richardson's Bad Side

Moe Tkacik | May 14, 2009, 2:14PM

The president is at a high school in New Mexico today attacking predatory financiers -- and, we imagine, silently thanking the deities his cabinet is not inhabited by a certain friend of predatory financiers accused of booking huge fees bilking the retirement funds of the state's school teachers. No, Bill Richardson is still in the governor's mansion, and he doesn't seem happy about it. On Monday we read that Richardson had actually "rolled his eyes" in response to a reporter's question about noted that he'd :

When asked recently if he had set the tone for his administration, which has been criticized for sometimes moving quickly on programs and for having a blind spot for details, Richardson rolled his eyes. The governor, who had just gotten into a black state SUV, didn't answer the question as the door closed and the vehicle drove off.

If Richardson does indeed set the tone for his administration, that tone has changed considerably of late. The expanding pension probes in New York have state officials suddenly taciturn -- after spending most of the year in hard-core attack mode.