As you may have heard, President-elect Barack Obama officially nominated Governor Bill Richardson to serve as Secretary of Commerce earlier today. During his run for the Democratic presidential nomination Governor Richardson went On the Record with ONE to talk about what he’d do to fight global poverty. Below are some interesting quotes and background information.

Richardson talks to ONE about extreme poverty

“When I travel, individuals come up to me in the poorest nations on earth and ask, “What has America done.” The reason is everyone expects America make an effort to make a difference in the world because we are the most powerful nation in the world. But we also need to regain our moral authority.

I also want to make a difference in the areas of pandemic diseases. AIDS. Refugees. Malnutrition. Enormous challenges in Africa—the poorest continent in the earth. Why is it that nobody cares about Africa? I always say that. Why did we let Rwanda happen? We should care about peacekeeping conflicts in Africa. We should care about the fact that close to 25% of the entire continent may be HIV positive. We should forge private/ public partnerships to make Africa a priority in the world’s foreign policy.
I think it’s also important that we recognize that America needs to lead.”

Richardson Praises ONE Campaign, Calls for a Marshall Plan for the 21st Century

SANTA FE, NM — Democratic Presidential candidate Governor Bill Richardson released the following statement today, praising the ONE campaign and calling for a sustained effort to eradicate poverty in the developing world:

“Millions dead from disease in the developing world, mothers who go to bed hungry every night, children who have never seen the inside of a classroom — this is our burden. Our belief is that we can and must do better.

“I am proud to support the ONE campaign in its efforts to alleviate suffering and transform the developing world. Accomplishing these goals will require an enduring will and an abiding faith in the dignity of every human being. I am confident that we will be successful.

“As a former UN Ambassador and a diplomat, I know that just as poverty-stricken neighborhoods produce crime, poverty-stricken states produce terrorism. Ending world poverty is thus not only a moral imperative, it is vital to the security of the United States. ONE’s specific targets — fighting HIV/AIDS, improving education, providing housing, ensuring the health of mothers and children, and providing safe, clean water — are critical for the developing world and America alike. Our next President must actively support these goals at home and abroad.

“We need a Marshall Plan for the 21st century. Developed nations, public organizations, and private companies must coordinate a sustained, focused, intensive effort to wipe out the developing world’s most pressing problems. The original Marshall Plan lifted Europe from the ravages of war and established the United States as the dominant economic player in the world. I believe that during the coming century, our nation’s economic security — and the security of the world economy — depends on replicating that success in the developing world.

“I applaud the ONE campaign for beginning the hard work that the world community must collectively finish. Only if we can work together will we have the strength to solve this problem.”

-Chris Scott

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson came to New Hampshire today to hold a foreign policy town hall meeting and speech on behalf of Senator Obama.

Gov. Richardson is very familiar with ONE from his own days on the campaign trail and this was no different. As soon as he came to the podium he saw ONE members in the front row, and immediately commended us on our tireless efforts throughout the NH Primary, and beyond, to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty.

After a brief speech, ONE’s Marine, Michael Castaldo asked Gov. Richardson if a potential Obama administration would work to ensure the full funding and appropriations for life saving programs like PEPFAR – the newly enhanced and expanded global AIDS, malaria, and TB Bill, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation which partners responsible, but highly impoverished nations with more and better aid for healthcare and infrastructure projects.

You can see it here:

Even in such a divisive political year and in the midst of economic uncertainty, ONE members everywhere should take pride in our non-partisan commitment to the world’s poorest people. Whether it’s at the UN General Assembly, or town halls in the Granite State, good people from both sides of the political aisle are realizing what our nation can do to help save millions of lives around the world.

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Field Organizer

Florida ONE volunteers Rafael Batista and Ryan Vassal made sure ONE was visible and our issues were heard at this Obama campaign event at the Pembroke Pines Charter High School cafeteria on August 11th. Gov. Bill Richardson hosted the event and told the volunteers: “ONE is a great organization.”

All year long here in NH, we have been organizing and hitting the campaign trail for the poorest of people on Earth. We are here to celebrate US efforts to save lives, and encourage further leadership to make sure the next president of the United States is a leader in the fight against global disease and extreme poverty!

We have had hundreds of candidate engagements with all of the campaigns – and have made incredible progress that you can check out our “On the Record” microsite.

Never before have so many people raised their voices here in New Hampshire for those who live in desperate places on less than a dollar a day – stupid extreme poverty.

But we are not letting up yet….tomorrow is Primary Day and already so much has happened its hard to keep track, but I will try to throw up some posts from the past few days and still keep updated with what is happening.

I just gave some ONE shirts to MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough who I spoke with on Friday. He always talks about US efforts to fight AIDS in Africa and even had Michael Gerson on the other day.

When Gov. Richardson saw me and some ONE members in the hotel lobby, he yelled out, “ONE”! from the second floor balcony. We even have seen a few bloggers running around the Granite State in their ONE shirts!

More to come…

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

This morning, Gov. Richardson made a campaign stop in Concord to meet with voters and sign copies of his new book. I went with ONE member James Leon on behalf of the poorest of the poor and to make sure that Gov. Richardson knows that Granite State voters care about saving lives in Africa.

James, a retired teacher from Concord, always wears his ONE pin – at the NH debates, different political events, and when meeting candidates – as a small way to show his support for the ONE Campaign.

We made our way to Gov. Richardson’s table where he immediately recognized our ONE pins. “ONE!”, he yelled out. “I love you guys”. I was able to briefly talk with Gov. Richardson and he agreed that our nation should lead the way to stop deaths from malaria. He even signed my book, “To Matthew, the ONE man”.

You do not have to be an expert to use your voice for the poorest people. It doesn’t cost anything to speak up for the world’s bottom billion. All you have to do is care, and find a way to make your voice heard. From writing a letter to the editor, to tabling at public events, to speaking with the candidates, to wearing a ONE band or ONE pin – we have the ability to let our leaders know that the United States should make a great effort to save lives and lift millions out of extreme poverty in Africa and the world’s poorest countries.

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

Even in New Hampshire it can be a tough job to get a few minutes to speak with the candidates. It is a lot tougher to get those few moments on tape.

But when there is a tough job, you send in the marines, and that is just what Michael Castaldo did this weekend on behalf of the poorest people in the world.

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

Bill Richardson gave all of us something to be happy with during his speech in Iowa this past week. In his speech, titled, “Facing Down the Threats of the 21st century,” Richardson presented his plans to combat global disease and extreme poverty.

Governor Richardson stated his commitment to double foreign assistance funding to 2% of the federal budget. Though that is a rather abstract number to many, including me, it represents billions of dollars in new money to better the lives of the world’s poor. This year, our total federal budget was approximately $3 trillion dollars, so that means 2% would be approximately $60 billion dollars. Though the budget for this year is not completed (the president and Congress are supposed to get this done by October 1 each year, but it hasn’t happened in the past few years), we expect foreign assistance funding to be about $29 billion.

Governor Richardson mentioned several issues – human trafficking, refugee crises, hunger, debt relief, microfinance, and the importance of the World Bank – that we have not heard much about during this campaign. Governor Richardson also recognized the importance of continued and increased medical research for the treatment and cure of the world’s biggest killers including AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, cancer and heart disease.

Just last week, we got word of a new malaria vaccine that was effective in 45% of children one to four years old. Though this clearly isn’t a perfect vaccine, when nearly a million African children are dying every year of this disease, keeping 45% alive is a good start. The United States is the most innovative country in the world – we have to find solutions to these killer diseases. We thank the Governor for presenting his plans on these issues.

All in all, a great week for ONE with Senator Brownback and Governor Richardson speaking out on these critical issues.

-Josh Lozman, ONE Vote ‘08 Policy Manager

At noon today in Des Moines, Iowa, Governor Richardson will outline a plan that should include several ONE-related issues.

Today on CNN.com:

WASHINGTON (CNN) – New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will outline what his presidential campaign is describing as a “21st Century Marshall Plan,” to address several issues facing the nation and the international community.

Specifically, Richardson’s campaign said he will talk on Thursday about climate change, pandemic diseases and refugee crises and “will call for doubling our foreign development assistance to 2% of our federal budget.”

“These are not just the problems of individual nations,” Richardson will say in the speech, according to excerpts provided by his campaign. “They are the problems of an independent world. We are the most powerful nation in the history of the world. Yet, we are not immune from such threats. It will take vigilance and bold action now, to preserve our safety for the future.”

Last night Gov. Bill Richardson spoke at the Latino Summit Meeting at Southern New Hampshire University. I decided to go with ONE member Josh to see Gov. Richardson’s address.

We stood in the balcony as Gov. Richardson spoke about shifting US foreign policy and priority to the “poorest of the poor”, he spoke about clean water and education efforts in Latin America. He went on to talk about micro lending and the work of Muhammad Yunas and the Grameen Bank, and explained to the audience how Yunas won the Peace Prize for helping to provide small loans directly to people in the developing world.

After his speech, he took questions from the crowd and one of the first questions was from Guy, an exchange student that attends SNHU. Guy asked Gov. Richardson what type of relations the US would have with Africa if he were elected president. Gov. Richardson talked about expanding funds to fight AIDS, and would propose funds for healthcare and education to fight extreme poverty. He said that Africa would be a priority in his administration and that the US would devote ample resources.

As Gov. Richardson left the event, I was able to speak with him briefly and I gave him a custom made ONE band especially for him. Because Gov. Richardson has such large hands and wrists, he has told me in the past that the ONE bands do not fit him that well, so I cut two ONE bands in half and connected them to create a larger ONE band. He laughed and put it on immediately and told me how much he supports and believes in the ONE Campaign. I thanked him for speaking about the world’s poorest people and told him to keep it up.

Gov. Richardson has a few more campaign stops in New Hampshire, and I am quite sure he will run into more ONE members today!

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

Bill Richardson spent the day campaigning in Las Vegas on Saturday. He made stops at the Cark County Democrats Club meeting and opened a new office in East Las Vegas.

During both events, Governor Richardson commented on the need to fight extreme poverty and global disease, and thanked The ONE Campaign for leading this fight and attending his office opening.

Megan Jones was able to ask Governor Richardson about how the trade agreements under his Marshall plan would help in the fight against global poverty. See his response in the video attached:

-Matt Higginson