Commentary:
I was reading the news when I got the call. A good friend of mine, and a close confidant of Bill Richardson, told me that he had passed. Immediately, I started receiving calls from reporters wanting me to share memories I had of New Mexico's former Governor, Ambassador to the United Nations, and former Energy Secretary. I have a lot of memories of him. We had known each other since I began my career, more than 30 years ago. I met him when he was a newly-elected congressman in the newly-established Congressional District 3 in northern New Mexico. At that time, I didn't know that our careers would intersect, and we would work on various projects during the next few decades.
My first real interaction with Richardson was when then-Governor Bruce King sent me to Mexico City to establish and run New Mexico's first foreign commercial/tourism office. When Governor King led a delegation to Mexico City to cut the ribbon on my office and to meet with Mexican officials about establishing the Santa Teresa-San Jeronimo Port of Entry, Richardson was part of the group. We had high-level meetings with officials such as Jaime Serra Puche, Luis Donaldo Colosio, and Mexican President Carlos Salinas. At every meeting, the Mexican officials knew Richardson and treated him like a long-time friend. Having spent his formative years in Mexico City, the son of an American banker and a Mexican mother, this is exactly what he was to them.
It impressed me how connected New Mexico was to Mexico through Richardson, and how we could take advantage of this going forward. After the delegation returned to New Mexico, I was floored when my father called me to tell me that Richardson had personally called him to tell him how proud he must be of me. I was a 25-year-old nobody, nervous in a foreign city, hoping that I wouldn't let my state down. That he took time to call my father touched my heart, and I still get emotional thinking about it today. Over the years, he seemed to have a fondness for me, and used to refer to me as a "scrapper."
While he was a congressman, I worked with his office on various projects regarding Mexico and general business issues. I remember picking him up at the El Paso Airport and taking him to his hotel in Las Cruces, with a stop in Vinton for dinner. It was at this meeting when he told me and a colleague that he was going to run for Governor. I knew him well enough that I had some fine cigars ready for us to enjoy after dinner.
When he became Governor, I helped him organize the state's Office of Mexican Affairs, which eventually shared an office with my International Business Accelerator program in Chihuahua City. We traveled together to advocate for U.S.-Mexico issues to Juarez, Chihuahua City, and Mexico City. We put together a delegation that included Chihuahua Governor Jose Reyes Baeza and staff to advocate for extended hours at the Santa Teresa-San Jeronimo Port of Entry. We also held meetings to advocate for U.S.-Mexico trade relations.
At the professional level, as a diplomat and politician, he was phenomenal. He was at ease with high-level policymakers or even the Pope. When we met with President Salinas, he kept referring to Richardson as "Bill," and kept asking him questions about his family and life. Salinas spoke to our delegation in English, which in retrospect isn't standard protocol, especially when in his own nation. I think he did this because of his friendship with Richardson.
However, what I really liked about him was that he truly enjoyed talking and joking with common people, especially working people. I was privileged to be invited by Richardson to official dinners and receptions at the Governor's Mansion in Santa Fe, where we would meet diplomats and officials from other states and countries. After dinner, we would retire to the back patio of the mansion and smoke cigars and tell stories.
During the pandemic, I worked hard through foreign and domestic sources to acquire and distribute PPE for our Border Industrial Association members in the Santa Teresa industrial base. Richardson got wind of this and called me. He was sad that the Navajo Nation and Jicarilla Apache Tribe were getting hit hard by COVID and had raised funds with the actor Edward James Olmos to help. He asked if I could help them purchase PPE to distribute to these nations, and of course I said yes. During the pandemic, he would send associates down in U-Haul trailers to pick up PPE from me or I would deliver it to him in Albuquerque. He was a big man with a big heart.
Before the pandemic, I visited him in his office in Santa Fe. We talked about old times and the work we had done together. He was in a good mood and laughed at a lot of the memories. As with every time I talked with him, I asked him to come visit the Santa Teresa industrial base, which he had a hand in shaping. It had been a long time since I had seen him on the border. As always, he promised me he would come down to visit. Sadly, this never happened.
If Richardson liked you, he would call you over to him and gruffly say, "You're fired," with a smile on his face. It didn't mean you were actually fired, it was just his inside way of telling you that he liked you. Governor, I just wish you were still here to fire me one more time.
Jerry Pacheco is President of the Border Industrial Association and Executive Director of the International Business Accelerator. Jerry Pacheco's opinions are his own and do not necessarily represent the views of KRWG Public Media or NMSU.