Norton anecdote questionable.

• Author: DuBray, Dan
• Position: Readers respond - Letter to the Editor

For the record, I don't think I've ever heard the Interior Secretary tell this story (of Jessica Simpson complimenting Gale Norton on the job she'd done on the White House interior decorating). ("Gale Force," August.) I was with Norton in her office, however, the day after the White House event at which it supposedly occurred. Tina Kreisher came in to ask the Secretary personally, at the behest of a reporter, whether she could confirm whether this was said. Gale said she had been told it was said by Ms. Simpson to another person at the event, but as though they were making a joke. There was never any such encounter between Jessica Simpson and the Secretary. It's not a big deal, but it's one of those ditzy, "urban legend" things that I think was made up by the Jessica Simpson spin machine. The machine is good, though, and this story apparently has...