More Time With Her Family?

A month ago, Claude Allen resigned and they said he wanted to spend more time with his family. By which, apparently, he meant the judicial system of the State of Maryland. So what should we make of this?

Gale A. Norton, who as secretary of the interior reopened Yellowstone National Park to snowmobiles and pushed for greater energy development on public land, announced yesterday that she will relinquish her post by the end of the month. ...

Norton's resignation comes as a federal criminal task force continues to investigate former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings with her department. The task force is examining, among other issues, former deputy secretary J. Steven Griles's discussions with Abramoff at a time when the lobbyist was seeking departmental actions on behalf of his tribal clients. Abramoff has pleaded guilty to federal charges of political corruption.

Norton said the probe did not play a role in her decision to step down and added later: "I want to return to having a private life again."

To be fair, her private life in the past paid pretty well, since she worked as a lobbyist and lawyer for a variety of big corporations involved in environmental degradation.

Norton is also a founder, and serves on the advisory committee, of the Coalition of Republican Environmental Advocates (CREA), which is considered by the Republicans for Environmental Protection (a legitimate GOP environmental group) to be a greenscam: "a transparent attempt to fool voters who care about environmental protection." CREA focuses on free market and local solutions to environmental problems and counts Helen Chenoweth and Senator Larry Craig as supporters. CREA actually gave an environmental award to Newt Gingrich. Contributors to CREA include the American Forest Paper Association, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, ARCO and Amoco.

Then again, perhaps we'll be hearing more about this in a month or so.

Also under investigation is Norton's friend Italia Federici and a public interest group she heads -- the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, known as CREA -- which Norton co-founded with conservative anti-tax advocate [and Abramoff buddy -ed.] Grover Norquist in the 1990s.

In an attempt to influence the Interior Department -- which has the final say on an Indian tribe's gambling ambitions -- Abramoff developed close ties with Federici and directed his casino-rich tribal clients to give $500,000 to CREA.