Comments (0) Best Appearance by a Coloradan in a Comic Strip - 2001

Gale Norton

Gale Norton didn't want to be a character in Doonesbury, even one who remained both unseen and unheard. But cartoonist Garry Trudeau got Washington talking when he lampooned Colorado's former attorney general, a surprise appointment to the Bush cabinet. During Norton's confirmation hearings before the Senate -- where the libertarian-turned-Republican declared herself a "passionate conservationist" who could ably serve as Secretary of the Interior -- Trudeau labeled her a "pin-up girl for companies accused of plundering the environment." Queried one cartoon senator: "You mean 'poster girl'?" "No, no," replied the caricature of a Texas oilman (as if that weren't redundant). "They really do want to get in bed with her."