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September 17, 2009 08:13 AM UTC

Gale Norton Under Federal Corruption Investigation

  • 12 Comments
  • by: CastleMan

(so sue me, if you don’t think this belongs on the Front Page.  This looks big to me. – promoted by Barron X)

Another scandal threatens to further erode the already dismal reputation of George W. Bush’s administration. The twist is that the subject of an investigation into corruption at the Department of Interior – Colorado’s own Gale Norton might – just might – reverberate in the race for our state’s junior U.S. Senate seat.

That federal prosecutors are looking into whether former secretary Norton abused her power to favor the oil company that hired her after her tenure at the Interior Department ended is not really very surprising. Norton’s deputy secretary has already been convicted on obstruction of justice charges arising from his dealings with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Many observers of Centennial state politics, including (I think) some posters here, have speculated that at least some of Jane Norton’s name recognition is based on the mistaken perception that she is Gale Norton. If that is true, then I surmise it is possible that any indictment and trial of the former Interior secretary could have some impact on Republican voters faced with a field of seven candidates in the primary as of now.

Why does that matter? Because at least one poll shows that Jane Norton is the strongest GOP candidate against either Sen. Michael Bennet or his Democratic challenger, former state House speaker Andrew Romanoff.

I won’t make a prediction about whether this legal development, combined with some Coloradoans’ confusion about the Republican Nortons, will affect the Senate race. But one has to think it might.

Comments

12 thoughts on “Gale Norton Under Federal Corruption Investigation

  1. Ex Dir for CDOT, President of UNC, …

    Jane Norton may be confused with several of the other Norton’s in Colorado.

    Will not hurt, but may help with name id early on against Republican opponents.  

    1.    Most of those who post in here know the difference between Gale and Jane, but many voters do not.

        They hear “Norton under investigation” and some will assume it’s Jane.

        Some of Jane’s current popularity is probably due to confusion with Gale.  That may be a two-way street.

      1. I paused for a second when I saw this headline appear in the diary section before it was promoted last night, and thought “Jane Norton under investigation! Quite the scoop!” I even read “Gale Norton”, but my brain immediately made me think it was Jane Norton and I realized I was wrong when I clicked on the article and read it.

        I think you’re exactly right on the whole accidental name ID thing going both ways.

  2. Gale, that is.

    The federal Bureau of Land Management failed to follow the law and its own guidelines in issuing some of the 6,525 exclusions that enabled oil and gas drilling in the West without environmental impact studies, according to a government audit.

    The decisions helped contribute to growing air-quality problems in Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico, the Government Accountability Office study found.

    About 10 percent of the exclusions came in Colorado, where federal land accounts for 15 percent of drilling.

    “In the 2005 Energy Act, Congress tried to give industry a little leeway, but the BLM has leaned too far back to accommodate (it),” said Michael Chiropolos, a lawyer at Western Resource Advocates, an environmental law firm that’s challenged the exclusions.

    http://www.denverpost.com/busi…  

  3. it can be a benefit and it can also be a detrement.

    Illinois refused to elect Jim Ryan governor in 1992 (instead electing Rod Blagojevich—oh, the irony) at least partially due to the misdeeds of another Ryan (George) who both were fighting to succeed.

    1. Name recognition is huge.

      Other Colorado examples- (Don’t look)

      Who is currently the D candidate for CD6 ?  If the guy running would change his name to Jon Elweigh – he’d have a better chance of getting to 48%.

      There is an R candidate in CD7. What’s the name?

      If the candidate changed names to  Bill Ohen- perceived name recognition would jump.

      If nothing else, name recognition causes voters to double take and think about a candidate. Not always helpful in the end- but candidates spend big money trying to cause this exact outcome.

      This hurts Norton in two ways.

      At first it hurts cause she may be mistaken for the wrong Norton. And when inquiring voters figure out that they’ve heard the name so much for no real reason to do with the candidate, they’ll start asking what exactly the candidate has done (not counting inside the party)

      Then, if the corruption investigation goes badly for Norton, it will reinforce or imply to voters that perhaps Norton’s party is presently,  less trustworthy, especially for those predisposed to disdain government already.

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