“We're lucky to have such stellar representatives with people with whom Indian Country has really good relationships,” said Jacqueline Johnson-Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, a nonprofit organization that represents more than 250 tribes.
So far, Mary Smith, Mary McNeil and Yvette Robideaux have been assigned to work on justice, agriculture and health issues, while three current and former attorneys with the Native American Rights Fund - John Echohawk, Keith Harper and Robert Anderson - will advise Obama on changes proposed within the Interior Department.
“This is our last big chance to get a lot of things done,” said Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff from Montana's Blackfeet Nation in the class action lawsuit. “It's like a broken record every time we have a hearing. Nothing really happens. Maybe if we get the right people in these positions, we can all work together: the tribes, Congress and the administration.”
The Native American Rights Fund, a tribal justice and legal rights organization based in Boulder, Colo., has helped represent a half-million Native landowners in the Cobell suit. Landowners claim Interior Department agency officials - including the Office of Special Trustee, Bureau of Land Management, Minerals Management Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs - have mismanaged billions of dollars of their income earned from sales of timber, oil and gas, and grazing leases.
Echohawk, NARF's executive director of more than 30 years, also served as a transition adviser for former President Bill Clinton.
Harper was the lead NARF attorney in the Cobell case. He remains the only Native representative assigned to the highest ranks of the Obama transition, where he has been named a “team lead” for the Interior Department. Harper also served as the Native policy adviser during the Obama campaign.
He currently heads up Native affairs for the Washington, D.C., law firm Kilpatrick Stockton. He was named as one of the 50 “Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America” by the 2008 National Law Journal. And he is a lead attorney in the Cobell suit.
Rounding out the Interior advisers to the Obama transition team, Anderson worked 12 years as a senior staff attorney for NARF, where he litigated state, tribal and federal jurisdiction cases, including water, hunting and fishing rights cases.
Transition team updates are being made at www.change.gov.
“President-elect Obama has set a high bar for the transition team to execute the most efficient, organized and transparent transfer of power in American history,” said John Podesta, co-chairman of the presidential transition team, in a news release.
“First, we adopted the strictest ethics guidelines ever applied to any transition team. President-elect Obama pledged to change the way Washington works, and that begins with shifting influence away from special interests and restoring it to the everyday Americans who are passionate about fixing the problems facing our country.”
Job seekers are being encouraged to submit their resumes, and many Native people have already done so.
“The team expands constantly as they look for gaps and bring in other people, said Johnson-Pata. “Every time I look at the list, I see new names on it. We're lucky. We have several Native Americans in a variety of different places.”
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Ray Begaye wrote on Nov 20, 2008 2:48 PM:
" I see the validity in electing Barack Obama and true to my words, he is doing exactly what I told many Native Americans, who were tethering between Obama and McCain, on the salvation we desperately need to revive our future. Obama is the one to do that. Congratulations on his pick and I honor him for reminding us to told true to our quest to be People again. "
Erik M wrote on Nov 20, 2008 5:33 PM:
" So do you think he hired them because they were the most qualified? I wouldn't want him to be prejudice, would you? "
Logan Davis wrote on Nov 22, 2008 4:48 PM:
" What is going to come to pass is a better understanding and respect for ALL people of the world. America as we once dreamed it could be has fallen but has at least made an important first step to regain its stature as a legitimate democracy and actually operate according to the belief that all men (and women) are created equal. The US government really never thought that way when it came to the great humanity that still is the many great tribal native people of this country who have managed to survive America's own "Holocaust". "
Danielle wrote on Dec 1, 2008 4:08 PM:
" President Obama's litmus test for change will be how his administration deals with Indians peoples in the United States. Whether it is an economic upswing or economic downturn, if it a Democratic or Republican government or President. The conditions on Indian reservations remain the same. If President Obama is sincere about Change in the United States, then we should see definitive change throughout Indian Country. This will be the litmus test for the new adminstration. "
Iyotawni cree wrote on Dec 16, 2008 1:23 PM:
" Its about time..now we need an American Indian President!!!
thank you very much "
thank you very much "
Clarissa Jacobs wrote on Jan 11, 2009 8:23 AM:
" A Native American Dream Team needs to be developed for Native American Representation, good selection in native american representation. How do graduate students become involved in assisting with native american issues? "
Maria Menghraj wrote on Jan 23, 2009 1:19 PM:
" I support NARF and am very pleased that NARF attorneys are working with the Department of the Interior. How wonderful it would be if the First People received the justice they deserve after centuries of abuse and neglect. I look forward to hearing how the Obama administration addresses the needs of the poorest Americans.
Sincerely,
Maria Menghraj "
Sincerely,
Maria Menghraj "
Leonard Combs wrote on Nov 20, 2008 12:08 PM: