Ex-Colorado attorney general has accepted post in Bush Cabinet

By Peter Blake
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

Former Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton has accepted the job of interior secretary in George W. Bush's Cabinet, the Denver Rocky Mountain News has learned.

Bush is expected to make the announcement today.

The president-elect reportedly interviewed Norton Thursday in Washington.

Attempts to reach Norton Thursday were unsuccessful.

Another finalist was said to be Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, who's in the middle of a four-year term. He previously served six years in the Senate.

Colorado Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell wants the job and has long been on the short list, but his chances have dimmed because of the repercussions of filling his Senate seat.

GOP leaders are afraid that whoever Gov. Bill Owens chooses to replace him could be defeated by a Democrat in 2002, when he or she would have to run for the two-year balance of Campbell's second term. Since the Senate is now balanced at 50-50, the GOP can't risk the loss of even one seat.

Karl Rove, Bush's chief campaign strategist, has called various Colorado Republicans in recent days to check on Norton's qualifications, and their positive response led to an interview.

Norton will probably draw fire from some environmentalists simply because she once worked for the Denver-based Mountain States Legal Foundation. That's a conservative think tank once headed by James Watt, Ronald Reagan's controversial interior secretary. On the other hand, she may not be loved by some conservatives either because she favors abortion rights.

Norton, 46, is a native of Wichita, Kan., who moved with her family to Thornton when she was 5. She breezed through the University of Denver in three years, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1975. She graduated from the DU law school three years later.

Norton joined the foundation in 1979 and stayed four years, working on environmental issues. Later she worked in Washington as an associate solicitor for the Interior Department and as an assistant to the deputy secretary of the Agriculture Department.

She prefers free-market solutions to environmental problems rather than government coercion, which should fit in with Bush's program.

Norton was elected Colorado attorney general in 1990, ousting incumbent Democrat Duane Woodard.

In 1994, Norton handily won re-election despite a very negative campaign run by Democratic nominee Dick Freese, a Denver lawyer.

Midway through her second term, Norton decided to run for the U.S. Senate. This angered GOP oilman Bruce Benson, who in those pre-contribution-limits days had given heavily to her two campaigns for attorney general, because it would have given Democratic Gov. Roy Romer the chance to fill her job by appointment.

It turned out not to matter. Norton made the primary ballot but was defeated 57 percent to 43 percent by U.S. Rep. Wayne Allard, who went on to defeat Democrat Tom Strickland in the general election.

She hadn't resigned as attorney general to make the race, and during her final two years on the job she helped negotiate the tobacco settlement, which is supposed to bring Colorado $2.68 billion over a couple of decades.

Since early 1999, Norton has been working at Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber & Strickland — perhaps the state's most politically influential law firm. Partner Strickland took leave to serve as U.S. attorney for Colorado.