Lynda

For those keeping up on the politics of Dumbya's proposed appointees.

Lynda
----- Original Message -----
> INTERIOR NOMINEE BILLED ALASKA FOR ASSISTANCE TO PRIVATE GROUP
>
> The Arizona Republic
> Interior nominee billed Alaska for assistance to private group
>
> Associated Press
> Jan. 12, 2001 10:30:00
>
> WASHINGTON - Gale Norton billed the Alaska Legislature $270 an hour last
year
> to help overturn a fishing policy of the Interior Department that she's
been
> chosen to run. Billing records also show she charged the state for help
she
> gave a private group in the case.
>
>
> Alaska Democrats and environmentalists are questioning why Norton would
ask
> Alaska's taxpayers to pay for her to assist the Mountain States Legal
> Foundation, a group she once worked for that has sued the Interior
Department
> repeatedly.
>
> "I would be concerned about us spending Alaska money to help another
> organization outside the state put their views forward," Democratic state
> Rep. Al Kookesh said Thursday.
>
> "I'd think that would be highly inappropriate," Carl Pope, executive
director
> of the Sierra Club, said Friday. "State government is not an ideological
tool
> of the Mountain States Legal Foundation."
>
> Republican lawmakers and a Norton spokeswoman said the billings were
proper
> because the group was supporting the Legislature's position in the same
case.
>
> Bill records obtained by The Associated Press show Norton was paid more
than
> $60,000 last year by Alaska lawmakers to help write a friend-of-the-court
> brief in a federal lawsuit opposing Interior Department oversight of
fishing
> in Alaska.
>
> The work is part of the legal and lobbying activities she performed after
> ending her tenure as Colorado attorney general in 1999. The work is under
> review by senators for possible conflicts of interest. Norton was named
last
> month as Bush's choice to head the Interior Department, which manages the
> nation's vast natural resources from national parks to offshore oil
deposits.
>
> The billing records show Norton charged Alaska at least 18 times to help
the
> legal foundation file its brief in the case. The records charge for such
> items as eight hours for "revisions to Mountain States Legal Foundation
> brief" and 1.2 hours to "review and comment on final draft of Mountain
States
> Legal Foundation amicus" and make a phone call.
>
> Norton's spokeswoman, Jeanie Mamo, said Norton charged Alaska for helping
the
> foundation because she had enlisted the group's help on the state's
behalf.
>
> "She worked with them on the amicus brief on behalf of the state," Mamo
said
> Thursday.
>
> Another lawyer who worked with Norton said the billings were proper. Paul
> Lenzini said Norton's assistance to the foundation supported the state's
> position in the case.
>
> "To the extent that the Mountain States brief was better and sharper after
> she reviewed it, she served the interests of the state," Lenzini said.
>
> Alaska House Speaker Brian Porter, one of the GOP legislative leaders who
> hired Norton, said he was not bothered by the billings for her work with
the
> foundation. "We're happy," Porter said.
>
> Norton's Denver firm, Brownstein, Hyatt & Farber, has represented a
company
> that tried to develop an Indian casino regulated by the Interior
Department
> and a company seeking the department's approval to drill for oil off
> California's coast, records show.
>
> Mamo said Norton would "follow the law in every case" where she might have
a
> conflict of interest. Federal ethics laws require officials to stay out of
> decisions that could benefit them or their families financially.
>
> Norton's ties to the Mountain States Legal Foundation are often cited by
> environmentalists who oppose her nomination. She was a foundation lawyer
from
> 1979 until 1983, hired by James Watt, an Interior secretary under
president
> Reagan who was anathema to environmentalists.
>
> The foundation has sued the Interior Department repeatedly in recent
years,
> seeking to overturn restrictions on mining, grazing and off-road vehicle
use
> on federal land. Twenty-three leaders of environmental, labor and civil
> rights groups held a news conference Friday to kick off what they hope
will
> be a multimillion-dollar advertising and public pressure campaign to
persuade
> senators to reject Norton's nomination. They said Norton's views and ties
to
> groups like Mountain States show she is "fundamentally out of step with
the
> American people," as Pope put it.
>
> The fishing case is the second major environmental controversy in Alaska
to
> involve Norton. While a top Interior Department lawyer during the Reagan
> administration, Norton advocated drilling for oil in the Arctic National
> Wildlife Refuge - a position Bush supports but environmentalists oppose.
>
> In the fishing case, Alaska is challenging a ruling that said the Interior
> Department has the right to regulate subsistence fishing in most Alaska
> waters.
>
> The state argues that such federal regulations infringe on the state's
right
> to regulate fishing in its territory. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals
> heard arguments in September but has not ruled.
>
> GOP legislative leaders decided to make their arguments to the appeals
court
> because they didn't trust Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat, to represent
> lawmakers' point of view fully, Porter said.
>
> But Democrats cried foul when the GOP leaders waited until October, after
> Norton and Lenzini had finished their work, to get formal approval for the
> state contract. Alaska House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz called the
move
> "an abuse of legislative discretion."
>
> On the Net:
>
> Alaska Legislature: http://www.legis.state.ak.us/