He stands apart because virtually all of his service in the federal government was in political jobs, requiring Senate confirmation. Most people who choose government as a career do so by joining federal bureaucracies in the civil service, the foreign service or the military. Only a few spend most of their lives in the fickle world of political stewardship. That world is fickle in part because of the high risks it entails. At the most obvious level, political jobs disappear when the White House reverts to another party.
Ethical traps abound, and there's no shortage of critical overseers ready to blow the whistle.
Cabinet members Bruce Babbitt, Henry Cisneros and Mike Espy are examples from this administration. To survive without blemish is difficult indeed. Richardson did so with distinction, serving as Attorney General and as Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Commerce, and Secretary of Health Education and Welfare in different administrations. He also held the posts of undersecretary of State and ambassador to Great Britain, and, in Massachusetts, of lieutenant governor and attorney general. His reputation as a man who put principle ahead of politics was cemented when he resigned as U.S. Attorney General in October 1973 after refusing President Nixon's request to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox.