To: Lane3 who wrote (23207 ) 8/19/2001 9:18:22 PM From: Win Smith Read Replies (2) | Respond to Meanwhile, a couple compare and contrast articles in the Sunday paper in your area, Karen.nytimes.com Ms. Norton's most consistent theme so far is that the concerns of Western communities have been ignored by the federal government. She often evokes an image of clueless Easterners who cannot fathom that the combined size of the new national monuments created by President Clinton, for example, is bigger than the state of Connecticut. The secretary is the emperor of the outdoors, in charge of 436 million acres of public land,. . . nytimes.com Will Whitman become isolated as the moderate, abortion-rights representative in a mainly conservative administration? She bristles at this question, pointing out that fellow cabinet officers like Gale Norton, secretary of the interior, and Ann Veneman, secretary of agriculture -- Whitman has lunch with them monthly -- are also in favor of abortion rights, ''and you never hear anything about that.'' She has learned from her experience with Kyoto, however, to listen more closely to the White House's script. After initially playing down the idea of conservation, the administration, especially the vice president, has recently been emphasizing it. So Whitman has adjusted her schedule to spend more time talking about E.P.A.'s Energy Star program, which endorses products that reduce energy use. She has not campaigned for greenhouse rules in public, a la John McCain and Joseph Lieberman, so as not to open a split with the president. Some part of her may sense inevitable confrontation, however. Asked how long she expects to stay at E.P.A., Whitman says that the president has her resignation letter in his desk. Reminded that it is tradition for cabinet officers to file an undated resignation letter, she explains, ''What I mean is, I've told him that if I have to go he shouldn't think I would make it awkward.''
