Bill Richardson Withdraws from Obama Cabinet

After what has been notably a smooth transition, the would-be Cabinet put together by President-elect Obama suffered its first hiccup today with Bill Richardson withdrawing his name from becoming the next secretary of Commerce. The withdrawal was sparked by a federal grand jury investigation that is underway in Richardson's home state of New Mexico into whether a financial services company won state contracts after its CEO contributed to a political committee controlled by the governor. Richardson emailed a statement saying, "I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process." Obama accepted the withdrawal "with regret" but praised the governor by saying,"It is a measure of his willingness to put the nation first that he has removed himself as a candidate for the Cabinet in order to avoid any delay in filling this important economic post at this critical time." Politico says that there was a nervousness among some senators of any associations between the investigation on Richardson and the pay-to-play scandal of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.