Abramoff, Norton, Indian Affairs, Steven
Griles, Italia Federice, Powder River Basin, Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge, North Slope Oil, Council of Republicans for Environmental
Advocacy, cesspool of corruption links |
WASHINGTON - AP
Interior Secretary Gale Norton resigned Friday after five years in
President Bush's Cabinet and at a time when her agency is part of a
lobbying scandal over Indian gaming licenses. In a letter to Bush, Norton
said the resignation would be effective at the end of March.
"Now I feel it is time for me to leave this mountain you gave me to
climb, catch my breath, then set my sights on new goals to achieve in the
private sector," she said in the two-page resignation letter.
Norton, who turns 52 on Saturday, said she and her husband "hope to
end up closer to the mountains we love in the West." Bush
called Norton a strong advocate for "the wise use and protection of
our nation's natural resources." "When Hurricane Katrina
devastated the Gulf Coast region, she played a leading role in my
administration's efforts to restore badly needed offshore energy
production," he said. The leading Republican and Democrat on
the Senate Indian Affairs Committee have said that e-mails show that
Steven Griles, Norton's former deputy, had a close relationship with
disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Another one-time Norton associate,
Italia Federici, helped Abramoff gain access to Griles in exchange for
contributions from Abramoff's Indian tribe clients, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz.,
the committee chairman, and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., have said. A
former Colorado attorney general, Norton guided the Bush administration's
initiative to open Western government lands to more oil and gas
drilling. As one of the architects of Bush's energy policy, she
eased regulations to speed approval of drilling permits, particularly in
New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming's Powder River Basin. She also was
the administration's biggest advocate for opening the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge on Alaska's North Slope to oil drilling The first
woman ever to head the Interior Department, Norton was a protege of James
Watt, the controversial interior secretary during President Ronald
Reagan's first term in office. Watt was forced to resign after
characterizing a coal commission in terms that were viewed by some as a
slur. Before joining the administration, she was one of the
negotiators of a $206 billion national tobacco settlement in a suit by
Colorado and 45 other states. She was Colorado's attorney general from
1991 to 1999. After working for the Agriculture Department for a
year, Norton was named an assistant solicitor in the Interior Department
in 1985, focusing on conservation and wildlife issues. In 1996 she
sought the Republican Senate nomination in Colorado but was defeated by
Wayne Allard, who now holds the seat. Later she co-founded the Council of
Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, a group that has become embroiled
in the Abramoff lobbying scandal. Abramoff pleaded guilty in January
to federal felony charges related to congressional influence peddling and
defrauding Indian tribes in Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico
and Texas of millions of dollars. The tribes were either seeking
casino licenses or trying to prevent other tribes from opening competing
casinos, and Abramoff on occasion represented both sides on the same
issue, charging each hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. The
Interior Department oversees Indian affairs, including tribes' gaming
activities. In e-mail exchanges that have been made public since his
plea, Abramoff mentioned having an inside track at the department, and his
clients donated heavily to the Republican environmental advocacy group
Norton helped establish. Norton met Abramoff in her office at least
once and attended a dinner at which he was present, but aides have
described the meetings as nonsubstantive. Much of Norton's work at
Interior was satisfying demands from governors and local officials in the
West to have more of a role in how the federal government's massive land
holdings are used and preserved. The Interior Department oversees
the government's ownership of one-fifth of the nation's land. Norton led
the Bush administration's push for "cooperative conservation"
— shifting more of the responsibility for land management and recovery
of endangered species to states and local communities. Norton also
presided over the nation's park system and oversaw offshore oil and gas
leases. "There never will be a perfect time to leave,"
Norton said in her resignation letter to Bush. "There is always more
work to do. |