Gov Bill Richardson should not be nominated

The undersigned hereby urge President-elect Barack Obama not to nominate New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to be a member of his Cabinet.

As the Secretary of Energy under former President Bill Clinton, Mr. Richardson intentionally leaked Dr. Wen Ho Lee's name to the press as the suspect of giving China nuclear secrets and falsely accused Dr. Lee of espionage, stripping Dr. Lee's right to due process and marking the beginning of a 9 month solitary confinement. Judge James Parker made an unusual apology to Dr. Lee when he released him and accused the Department of Energy, among others, of misleading him and bring dishonor to the U.S. All this is documented in Wikipedia, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wen_Ho_Lee

President Bill Clinton and the New York Times have both apologized publicly to Dr. Lee. Yet, Mr. Richardson said he stood by everything he said and did regarding Dr. Lee in an interview with Democracy Now in September 2005. He also criticized Judge Parker for making his apology and said the Judge erred when he said he was misled. See http://www.democracynow.org/2005/9/22/governor_richardson_says_he_stands_by

For more on Gov. Richardson and Dr. Lee, watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv7v02jFHS8

The Dr. Wen Ho Lee case was not the only mistake Mr. Richardson made. Several hard disc drives were missing at the Los Alamos National Lab under his watch. Mr. Richardson's motive when he offered Monica Lewinsky a job on his UN staff is questionable. Additionally, he repeatedly claimed he was drafted by the Kansas City A's until it was proven that he was not.

Gov. Richardson is a solo operator without the necessary discipline to run a large federal department. He is an opportunist, irresponsible and ruthless, he simply is not fit to be a member of the Obama Cabinet.