Gale Norton resigned today; Mealyman just told Tweety it was because...

[Atman]

...he wasn't sure why she left, but he figured it was because...wait for it...




SHE WANTED TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH HER FAMILY!

BWHAHAHAHAHA! Do these idiots even realize what a parody of themselves they've become?!

.

[babylonsister]

1. Trent Duffy, Dep. Press Sec., is also gone as of today.

Rats leaving?

[Atman]

2. Even rats like to spend more time with their families, I guess!

:rofl:

[rodeodance]

5. really, Duffy is going today?

[babylonsister]

7. Yep...

Trent Duffy--Deputy Press Secretary--Resigns!

Trent Duffy

McClellan announced that "it is sad to see Trent Duffy move on to bigger and better things, but Trent has done an outstanding job and we wish him all the best. It is going to be hard to replace him, it was easy replacing the last guy, but it will be hard to replace Trent."

Got that info from here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x626872

[billybob537]

3. Don't be so harsh

Some of these people are good decent public servants.
YEAH RIGHT:wtf:
Must be another indictment coming.

[leftstreet]

4. I'm sure it's not because of her ties to Abramoff.

http://tinyurl.com/kbhox

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.

[hfojvt]

6. I think Robert Reich said the same thing

In his book "Locked in the Cabinet" he described a typical day which started at 6 in the morning and ended at 10 at night. So probably those jobs can get old.

[Benhurst]

10. Norton's ex-boss goes to bed around eight o'clock. It's

unlikely she stayed late while The Leader snored away. You can only steal so much in a given twenty-four-hour-period.

[Divernan]

8. They were told to leave before they were indicted.

nt

[chelsea0011]

9. This administration has more down time than any before. There

is plenty of family time with this group. I hope she spends some family time in some under-funded and under-manned national parks. thnks Gail! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

[Wickerman]

11. She and her husband want to spend more time in their beloved

{insert name, I forgot} mountains. No shit, that is what I heard today.

I guess she wants to spend time there before Bush and Co. clear cut, strip mine, then commercially develop the land she opened up to exploitation.


edit

Norton, who turns 52 on Saturday, said she and her husband "hope to end up closer to the mountains we love in the West."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060310/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/interior_norton;_ylt=AoJ9VkOQp2AwLpvwS5nm6mqs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

[electropop]

17. Same Colorado mountains where the Aspens are turning.

Coincidence? I don't think so. ;-)

[ewagner]

12. snort...

see this:

http://woodcodems.blogspot.com/

[Sydnie]

15. tee hee

I searched and searched for a picture of them together. Seems they had to file a FOIA to get one!

[central scrutinizer]

13. Does her family live on K street?

just another revolving door corrupt mafioso - probably moving straight to the board of some company she just enriched.

[HippieCowgirl]

14. Good bye and Good Riddance

I saw on another board that somebody called Norton "James Watt in a skirt."

Fits.

[bobbieinok]

16. does this have anything to do with U.S. Mismanagement of Indian Trust Fund

http://www.uwec.edu/Geography/Ivogeler/w188/articles/tribes.htm

U.S. Mismanagement of Indian Trust Funds

NEVER a man to mince his words, General William Sherman summed it up in 1865. "Indian reservations", he said, "are a parcel of land set aside for Indians, surrounded by thieves." Most of today's Indians would agree. For decades, they have complained that their overseers from the Bureau of Indian Affairs ( BIA ) have not had their interests truly at heart. In particular, they are upset by the government's mismanagement of the Individual Indian Money ( IIM ) trust accounting system.

Under this arrangement, the United States acts as a trustee on behalf of around 500,000 Indian landowners. The policy dates from various "allotments acts", chief among them the Dawes Act of 1887, under which the federal government broke up tribal lands within the reservations into 80-or 160-acre tracts. These tracts are leased out for a fee to oil, gas or timber companies by the government. Fees for the leases are paid to the Treasury Department and then, at least in theory, back through the BIA to the individual Indians. About $350m-500m is estimated to pass through the IIM accounts each year, but the accounting has long baffled Indians and outside auditors alike.

Tribespeople claim that the collection, investment and distribution of IIM money is a shambles, and that as much as $10 billion may be owing to the Indians (although, as one lawyer puts it, the numbers are "all over the map"). For example, the Interior Department keeps no record of income earned by short-term leases (up to five years) where there has been no transaction for 18 months; there are more than 200,000 such leases. About 50,000 active trusts cannot be accounted for. Indians often have no idea what company is working on their land, how much it is taking from it, or how much the land has earned. The government protests that it sends the cheques out, but that Indians can be difficult to find. Bear in mind that these are some of the most wretched people in the United States.

In 1996 five tribal members sued, saying they wanted a formal accounting of their trusts. The mess turned out to be worse than anyone had imagined. Paul Homan, once a boss of Riggs Bank and a former head of trust operations for the comptroller of the currency, testified that the record-keeping system for the IIM accounts was "the worst that I have seen in my entire life". When pressed, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Interior Department (which oversees the BIA ) and the Treasury Department, which is the custodian of all BIA trusts and writes the cheques, could not verify the accuracy of any single account.

more....