Reply #65: There are other possible reasons.

[sofa king]

She's been lying to Congress and evading their inquiries since virtually the day she was confirmed. I used to have to cover her hearings, and they were some of the most annoying hearings I ever attended, because she wouldn't answer any reasonable question. When confronted with specific questions about Interior mismanagement, Norton had a stock answer: "um, I'll have to get back to you on that," she would say every time. Once, I caught two Senators shaking their heads in disgust at the same time as she trundled out that tired old answer.

She has a lot to answer for. Here are a few of the truly awful things she's been responsible for which I personally witnessed and reported on:

Turning a Quechan tribe sacred site into a strip mine. We know that Abramoff's boy J. Steven Griles was behind this one, but Norton was the one who approved it. She's been evasive about giving an answer on that subject ever since.

Putting the hit on the Oglala Sioux. The Oglalas turned out in unprecedented numbers to return Tim Johnson to the Senate in 2002. Three months later, the President's budget blueprint for FY '04 proposed to cut funding for a water pipeline (the Mni Wiconi Project) to the Pine Ridge reservation by 80 percent (most of the Oglala Sioux do not have running potable water). The budget blueprint justified the cuts by the use of an analysis program which, as best I can tell, was never used before or since. The Oglalas were livid, and demanded to see the justification. Norton wouldn't release it, and as far as I can tell, it doesn't exist. At the time, I begged anyone who would listen to look into this, as it was obviously a political hit. Unfortunately, nobody gives a fuck about the Indians.

Forcing out the Special Trustee. America has mismanaged and stolen billions of dollars of Indian money held in trust for them by the United States. The Special Trustee, a decent chap named Tom Slonaker, clashed with Norton over her efforts to evade Judge Royce Lamberth's demands for better security and a full accounting of the mismanagement. Rather than meet the demands of the court, Norton threatened to fire Slonaker, and eventually forced him out of the job. I have long contended that this is because the Bush Administration (and Jack Abramoff) were using the Indian Trust Fund as a slush fund. Interestingly enough, Royce Lamberth--a genuine Boy Scout--also presided over the double-secret FISA court, but left that position in 2002, roughly the same time that Slonaker was fired.

The wheels of justice are turning agonizingly slow, but I think I'm beginning to see things turning in the direction of the absolute worst nightmare we could possibly have: I think that Gale Norton presided over the theft of the remnant of Indian funds in the possession of the government, billions of dollars, and enriched her anti-environmental corporate buddies at the expense of our common heritage. Only now, five years later, is she in danger of being caught for it.