In an extremely generous display of wanting to share with others, Interior Secretary Gale Norton decided to step down today and give someone else the opportunity to be on the Crony Cabinet.
Stating that she had "made boatloads of money on the side in her five years as secretary", Norton decided now was a good time to leave. Of course her close association with Jack Abramoff, who prosecutors are having a hard time shutting up these days, helped somewhat with her decision, she insisted it was mostly that she had "made enough" and it was time for her to "go back into the private sector before they starting handing out more indictments".
Interior Secretary Gale Norton Resigns Gale Norton today announced her resignation as the nation's first female secretary of the Interior, ending a controversial five-year tenure at a time when the cloud of a burgeoning lobbying scandal in Washington is looming over her agency. Her resignation is to take effect at the end of March. In recent months, Norton has become linked to Washington's burgeoning lobbying scandals by her former chief deputy, Steven Griles, who was close to now-disgraced "super-lobbyist" Jack Abramoff. A second former close Norton associate, Italia Federici, who worked with a nonprofit organization that promoted energy interests, also was linked to Abramoff. Federici helped him gain access to Griles in exchange for contributions from Indian tribes who had hired Abramoff as their lobbyist.
