Spaceport Runway Named After Richardson

Amongst all of the election coverage I totally missed reports like this one which states that the recently completed runway at the taxpayer-financed “Spaceport America” in southern New Mexico was named after Governor Richardson.

Personally, I find the practice of naming public buildings and other taxpayer-funded things like the spaceport runway after sitting public officials to be rather offensive. Our Capitol Reporter, Rob Nikolewski has reported extensively on this here, here, and here. I happen to agree with the Las Cruces Sun-News editorial that taxpayers are getting the short end of the stick here. After all, if the Spaceport is going to be the international attraction that we all expect (not), why not sell the naming rights much as they do for sports stadiums?

Of course, selling naming rights would have deprived Richardson of his “legacy” and we couldn’t have that. I’m surprised he didn’t name the Rail Runner after himself. Of course, he took credit for “funding” it a long time ago.