I love it when New Mexico enters the national news, as its one of the few times I'm reminded that my desert home still exists and that nothing changes there. New Mexico is always trying to break into the big time. In college during the mid-90s my theater friends and I would always say with enthusiasm that Albuquerque, with all its skilled and motivated artists and poets, was going to be the next Seattle or at least the next Austin. No action on that front yet, but you can't say that New Mexico isn't trying.

Santa Fe and Taos are still trendy on a national scale. In Ireland people asked me questions about the Santa Fe Opera and the balloon fiesta. When I interviewed for my job at Forbes the editor asked me, "Why would you leave there to come to New York? You lived in paradise." I almost suggested smugly "So, you move there." But confronting people with the fact that they would never leave the fast life for what they think is paradise and thus lie to themselves even about their dreams is not the best interview tactic. Governor Gary Johnson went national with his legalize drugs campaign (bravo!) and we have the occasional prison riot or the Waste Isolation Project Pilot Plant controversy to bring national attention. The latest attempt to break into the big time concerns Bill Richardson, the current Secretary of Energy and a former congressman from the northern district.

Richardson has been a good Democrat for a long time and he's well known and liked in left wing power circles. This morning I met with a business consultant who is based in Mexico who met Richardson a few times and attests to the fact that our former congressman, who looks a bit like John Belushi, can really party. His name has been floated, recently, as a possible running mate for Gore. He is half Hispanic, a good Democratic soldier, and a smart guy, after all. He also comes from a state with a mere five electoral votes which will probably go to Gore anyway, so it's not going to happen. Gore needs to lock California or New York, since he'll probably lose Texas and Florida. I don't think the Gore campaign is too worried about winning little old New Mexico.

Which is fine. Because New Mexicans shouldn't want Richardson as VP. Richardson, we keep forgetting, betrayed us. Back when he was a congressman in the North, representing Santa Fe and Taos, where there are a whole lot of Greens and other environmentalist lefties, Richardson opposed WIPP, a nuclear waste dump which is now operating near Carlsbad. WIPP was shoved down the throats of New Mexicans because we don't have the national political clout that we need to say "No" to the Department of Energy. Then Richardson took over the DOE and that all changed. We had the clout.

Then Richardson changed. Needing political favors in Washington and not needing votes from the New Mexican north, Richardson became pro-WIPP and he opened the dump. Now New Mexican highways have nuclear waste rolling around on them and future generations are saddled with a toxic mess. Richardson never took the time to explain and apologize for his change of heart to the constituents who supported him. Instead, he stomped on their heads as he climbed the political ladder. Besides, the Los Alamos spy scandal conveniently changed the subject as Richardson harassed the first Asian he could find.

So the old liberal Richardson is gone, and the new authority wielding sell out is with us. But he won't get to be Veep. Which makes for an interesting scenario after the next election: if Gore wins, Richardson may keep his job or get another appointed post. Or he may be out. If Dubya wins, he's out. If he's out, he'll go back to New Mexico and do one of two things: run for governor or run for Senate. Then, New Mexico's voters will have a chance to take some revenge and put Richardson out to pasture.

Michael Maiello left New Mexico last fall, but he hasn't betrayed his home state like some people he knows.