Tribal gambling, recognition oversight changes hands again at BIA

Bakersfield Californian ^ | 8/17/04 | Erica Werner - AP

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON (AP) - The second-in-command at the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is recusing herself from Indian gambling and recognition decisions so she can resign and join the private sector - just four months after the head of the department also recused himself from those issues.

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Aurene Martin will resign effective Sept. 10, Interior Department spokesman Dan DuBray said Tuesday. Effective immediately, responsibility for tribal gambling and recognition decisions is being given to Mike Olsen, currently the counselor to the assistant secretary.

Olsen will become the third official in less than a year to assume responsibility for two of Indian country's top issues. BIA head Dave Anderson, who was confirmed by the Senate last December, removed himself from those decisions in April to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Anderson co-founded Grand Casinos Inc.

Meanwhile, several other BIA officials are also switching jobs or leaving, in the latest changes at an agency that has been criticized as ineffective by lawmakers. Anderson said the timing was coincidental, praised Martin and said the changes would make the department stronger.

"It appears like it's a shakeup, but it's not," Anderson said in an interview. "I think the scuttlebutt comes from, I think in any administration when you have a new leader it's like a flock of geese when they're flying, that you always have a little turbulence, but the thing is that everybody is flying in the right direction."

Martin was not available for comment, DuBray said. He said she planned to look for work at a law firm, and ethics guidelines required her to recuse herself from issues potential employers might have an interest in.

Among other changes in the BIA, which is part of the Interior Department: Woodrow Hopper, a deputy assistant secretary, is transferring to a BIA human resources job in Oklahoma at his own request; Amy Courson, an attorney, is leaving to take a job with the Tohono O'odham tribe she's a member of; and bureau director Terry Virden returned to Minnesota, where he has family ties, to pursue an opportunity there several months ago.

[NormsRevenge]

It appears like it's a shakeup, but it's not," Anderson said in an interview. "I think the scuttlebutt comes from, I think in any administration when you have a new leader it's like a flock of geese when they're flying, that you always have a little turbulence, but the thing is that everybody is flying in the right direction."

hmmmmmm...

[baltodog]

Can you say "Paid Consultants"?