Big Bill Richardson lawyers up

It's looking more and more like the Land of Disenchantment in Fanta Se (aka Santa Fe) for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, starting with the fact he has lawyered up in an ongoing federal investigation of his ties CDR Financial and its president, David Rubin, a Richardson donor.

Also shock me that the Obama team is saying Richardson's disclosures about the grand jury probe were incomplete. Words like "petard," "self" and "hoisting" come to mind.

In case you're wondering what the FBI is investigating, here's the nut grafs:

In New Mexico, the probe of CDR Financial evolved from a larger, nationwide investigation into allegations that investment firms were giving bribes and gifts to local officials to win lucrative work advising local governments on bonds.

The FBI became interested in the New Mexico finance agency, legal sources said, because CDR and its founder had donated $100,000 to two political action committees headed by the governor. The donations, in 2003 and 2004, were made near the time that the authority awarded two contracts to CDR.

Couldn't happen to a better guy, perhaps.

Richardson has had an inflated sense of self, even for a politician, for better than a decade. I'm surprised that, given his plaintive worry that people wouldn't know he's Hispanic going by his last name, that he hasn't changed that. Other than some luck and some chutzpah in the world of diplomacy, he had a thin Congressional record, was trouble at Energy, even if he inherited part of Los Alamos and Wen Ho Lee issues, and has a decent but no better environmental record as gov.