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BIA faces leadership void among regional director level
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Filed Under: Politics

Tribal leaders and members of Congress were overjoyed last year when President Barack Obama quickly found a leader for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. During the Bush era, the position saw three different nominees in seven years and went vacant for long stretches of time.

But the Obama administration faces a leadership crisis of its own with Assistant Secretary Larry Echo Hawk in charge. Among the 12 regional directors in Indian Country, at least three are open due to retirements and two more have people serving in acting capacities due to personnel or administrative issues.

As for the BIA's central office in Washington, D.C., at least two senior positions remain vacant. One of them -- the director of the Bureau of Indian Education -- has gone unfilled for nearly three years even as Obama pledged to improve Indian schools in the fiscal year 2011 budget that his administration unveiled yesterday.

During the budget announcement, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the position will be filled soon but Echo Hawk later clarified in an interview that the selection process was only starting. Applications for the post closed yesterday so it could be weeks or months before a candidate is chosen, officials said.

However, Echo Hawk said Salazar's mention of the position shows that the leader of the Interior Department considers the issue to be a high priority.

The other vacancy is a newer development. Pat Ragsdale, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, resigned as the deputy director of justice services last Friday in what some described as an unexpected decision.

Ragsdale had been eligible for federal retirement and left the BIA rather than be transferred to one of the vacant regional director positions, according to two sources close to the agency.

But at least one vacant position at the central office has been permanently filled. Paula Hart, a member of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe of New York, started her job as director of the Office of Indian Gaming Management yesterday.

At the same time, the person who held that job continues to do triple duty for the Obama administration. George Skibine, a member of the Osage Nation of Oklahoma, is serving as acting principal deputy assistant secretary at the BIA and as acting chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission -- in addition to his regular job as deputy assistant secretary for policy and economic development at the BIA.

In an interview yesterday, Skibine said his appointment at the NIGC expires in a couple of months and that he will continue to serve in the position until Obama names a replacement. Like many of his peers, Skibine is eligible for federal retirement but he said he doesn't have plans to leave the BIA at this time.

Among the regional directors, Jeanette Hanna of Eastern Oklahoma hasn't been on the job since last November due to an unspecified personnel issue. She recently started a 120-day detail in DC, where she is working in Echo Hawk's office.

BIA Director Jerry Gidner declined to discuss specifics about Hanna, a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, yesterday.