Clearing the air

USA Today reports New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former top members of his administration won’t be criminally charged in connection with a lengthy federal probe into kickback allegations involving one of Richardson’s key political donors. A federal grand jury was looking into possible a pay-to-play operation that steered lucrative work on state bond deals to a Richardson donor. If true, the report obviously comes too late for Richardson, who in January withdrew his nomination to be President Barack Obama’s commerce secretary because of the investigation. It’s premature to speculate about future Cabinet openings in Washington, but Richardson would be an obvious candidate when something opens up.

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