The First Resignation

The AP is reporting that "Interior Secretary Gale Norton is resigning after five years in President Bush's Cabinet."

Norton, a former Colorado attorney general who guided the Bush administration's initiative to open Western government lands to more oil and gas drilling, planned to announce her decision Friday, a senior government official and another source familiar with her decision told the AP.

What the article doesn't tell you is that Norton, "was fingered in deals with Native American tribes that Abramoff represented."

$50,000 was donated to a conservative environmental group (?) founded by Norton by clients of Jack Abramoff. In return, the clients received meetings with Secretary Norton. An additional $10,000 was donated to the DeLay Foundation.

This may be the first, but it won't be the last person to step down in the Court of King George. I expect there will be a lot of former Republican staffers who will soon be 'lobbyists' themselves as a result of this too...

More depth (or at least human interest) at Rocky Mountain News.

Jack Abramoff Gale Norton Republicanism Culture of Corruption