Afterward, he attended the University of Tampa while working for the United States Department of Defense as an auditor, and received his Master of Business Administration degree in 1987.
[8][9] In 2017, when running for the 2018-2020 leadership of the House minority caucus, he withdrew from the race, recommending that the party pick between two other leading candidates to ensure greater delegation unity.
[12] During the 2013 legislative session, Richardson authored legislation that would appoint an Inspector General to look over the affairs of the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, declaring, "After learning of severe managerial shortcomings at Citizens, including reports of lavish spending on travel, reports of severance packages for employees who had faced abuse charges, and unprofessional behavior of staff, I immediately recognized the need for stronger state oversight.
He said, "While we’ve made short-term fixes, the entire system will ultimately need to be replaced.” On February 23, 2017, Richardson returned for a scheduled visit accompanied by two other legislators and the director of the DMS which is responsible for overseeing the performance of and conditions within private prisons.
When Richardson returned with two investigators from the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) as requested by the state's DMS OIG, other problems emerged at the prison.
Although prisoners said they had been intimidated against complaining to inspectors and feared retribution, one had sent Richardson a detailed list of 23 serious plumbing problems in just a single housing unit.
[9] In March, Richardson requested to Governor Rick Scott that he direct the state officials to take over management of the prison, warning that the health and safety of inmates was being risked.
She valued his intervention and closed a dorm in the Lancaster facility after his discovery that substantial interior mold growth made its continuing use dangerous.
In a race much closer than predicted, he was beaten by Donna Shalala, the former president of the University of Miami and the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the cabinet of Bill Clinton.