Norton's taking her leave to "catch my breath, then set my sights on new goals to achieve in the private sector," according her letter to President Bush. While MSNBC.com primly notes that her "name came up" in connection with the Jack Abramoff inquiry, ThinkProgress is more assertive. Under the headline "Another Abramoff Casualty?" TP notes that Norton received $50,000 from the defrocked lobbyist, who also channeled half a million dollars to her former aide Italia Federici to gain access to Norton and another Interior top official.
Whatever the reason or not-reason, Norton is leaving the Bush cabinet without having achieved her goal of opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
Update [2006-3-10 12:7:8 by Emily Gertz]: The folks at ThinkProgress elided the specifics slightly in the post I linked to above (although they're clearer about them elsewhere on the site). According to indianz.com, this $50K from the Meskwakis Tribe of Iowa actually went to a Norton-founded group, the greenwashy Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy ... as did many thousands more from other tribes that employed Abramoff.
CREA's president? Italia Federici.
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Emily Gertz Posted 5:55 am
10 Mar 2006
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billofrights Posted 6:07 am
10 Mar 2006
Can't wait to see Mr. Bush's next move.
William R. Neil
Rockville, MD
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Tom Twigg Posted 6:32 am
10 Mar 2006
In some cases it was a matter of lost funding to keep positions open, in others it was policies that ran contrary to the protection/preservation mission that had attracted these people to the Park Service in the first place. It broke my heart to hear them talk about their despair.
I am sure that they are cautiously celebrating on the news today ... but worried about what wonderful cronie replacement Bush has up his sleeve.
If a twigg falls in the forest but nobody is there to hear it, it's probably best because there is bound to be cussing.
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David Roberts Posted 7:28 am
10 Mar 2006
www.grist.org
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Corey McKrill Posted 8:30 am
10 Mar 2006
"Gale Norton has been a great advocate of protecting private property rights and improving the public's access to public lands. She has been a friend and ally of our movement. She has several major accomplishments, including the Healthy Forests Act which protects both people and forests from out of control wildfires, endorsing Endangered Species Act reforms to make the law work for a change, sharply reducing federal land acquisition because the government already owns too much, and greatly increasing the role of land owners and local elected officials in decision making processes," said Chuck Cushman, ALRA Executive Director.
and from the National Association of Manufacturers:
"In her five year tenure at the Department of the Interior, Secretary Norton has steered the U.S. toward a foundation for future domestic energy production," Engler said. "Working with Secretary Norton and her able staff, we have made considerable progress on expanding access to energy resources. We especially appreciate her dedicated efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to environmentally responsible exploration and development.
Wow.
Grist's InterActivist ... creating a one-of-a-kind portrait of on-the-ground activism.
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caniscandida Posted 8:05 am
11 Mar 2006
Karen Hughes is sui generis, arguably the most interesting woman in DC (or Cairo, or wherever). (Sorry, Laura.) The most interesting non-woman in DC is of course Sam Alito, strange replacement for our favorite AZ cowgirl. (Of the crash-and-burn of the Hughes-ish Harriet Myers, the less said the better.)
So where does Gale Norton fit in? Closer to Hughes than to Whitman, I think. But not too close. The personal loyalty to W. is not there. The figure in the administration that she resembles most is probably Dick Cheney. They share the sense that regulation is bad, federal oversight is bad, corrupt and highly interested local governments are best, and the extraction industries are what make this country great, and a few of us rich (but that is good too). In short -- if I may confess a Northeastern prejudice -- , they represent what we least like and most fear in the Western US.
Really, the rest of the US would not mind, surely, if NYC became an independent city-state? In a matter of years, we are all going to be under water anyway. (What a humiliating irony, to be a post-ocean-level-rise refugee, begging for help from some guy in Ohio who voted for Bush/Cheney.)
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argalite Posted 1:20 am
13 Mar 2006
The fishery management council is considering the curtailment of the west coast salmon fishery because the Klamath stocks are so low, and though the Sacramento fishery is considered healthy, the Klamath stocks intermingle with the Sacramento stocks. This is Norton's legacy.
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hsimmers Posted 1:02 am
14 Mar 2006
I can't think of a worse leader to have been in this position. You are evil! Giving up protection to our wilderness areas is far from disgusting, it is beyond that! You should be ashamed of yourself and how you handled things in your position.
Don't blame Bush b/c we all know he is a looser! Blame yourself for allowing your head up your ass when it comes to our environment and the beautiful animals in it!
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