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In The Hoop
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2002

Welcome to In The Hoop, Indianz.Com's occasional column about assorted Indian issues.

In The Hoop: The Scorecard
Is it Friday already? That means it's time for the weekly list of the movers and shakers in Indian Country and beyond.

Very Special Loser
A Very Special Loser Shoutout goes to Eric Ruff and his lackeys at the Department of Interior's communications office! Their treatment of Indian Country for the past year has been sorely lacking.

But as a federal judge said recently, this time they have truly outdone themselves. Yesterday, we received a fax purporting to be a "Letter to the Editor" in response to a recent editorial about Gale Norton's failure to fix the broken Indian trust.

Not only did it give us a big hoot, we immediately recognized the letter as identical to the one that appeared in The Denver Post last week in response to the paper's September 18 editorial. Not only that, Gale signed that letter personally. (See fifth item near bottom of page.)

We can only guess Indianz aren't good enough for Gale's signature. Only white people (i.e. voters) in her home state of Colorado get the special treatment!

Sources in the lobby of the Department of Interior later coughed up that the fax might have been a "mistake." But we aren't surprised by the latest shenanigan.

In fact, it's almost as good as the stunt she (err...Eric) tried to pull in February after her disastrous testimony before the House. You know, that's the one where she said BITAM was "superior" to any alternative out there even as her lawyers admitted BITAM wasn't necessary.

Reeling from the fallout, Gale/Eric "changed" her opening statement by removing her offensive comments. Someone fell for that trick but not us.

And to top it off, Ruff and subordinates had the gall to complain about yesterday's report on Neal McCaleb's federal recognition plan. They probably thought they were going to get promotions and raises.

We say, that's what you get for holding back the plan for nearly a month, releasing it to Congress on Monday and then sending it out to the media at 5 p.m. two days later without so much as putting an electronic copy on your web site. Hey that almost sounds like BITAM. Except you never gave that to Congress either. Oops.

(Well, actually you can blame BAR staff for not providing an electronic copy. But we're sure their pending promotions will more than make up for it.)

So hats off Eric Ruff, your office deserves it.

With that, onto this week's list!

In Your Hoop
Who are your winners and losers? Email In the Hoop and let us know.

Previous In The Hoops
Oct. 3 | Oct. 2 | Sep. 27 | Sep. 26 | Sep. 20 | Sep. 19 | Sep. 13 | Sep. 10 | Sep. 6 | Sep. 5 | Aug. 30 | Aug. 27 | Aug. 23 | Aug. 22 | Aug. 16 | Aug. 14 | Aug. 13 | Aug. 9 | Aug. 8 | Aug. 2 | Jul. 30 | Jul. 26 | Jul. 24 | Jul. 23 | Jul. 20 | Jul. 19 | Jul. 18 | Jul. 12 | Jul. 11 | Jul. 5 | Jun. 28 | Jun. 21 | Jun. 20 | Jun. 14 | Jun. 7 | Jun. 6 | May. 31 | May. 30 | May. 29 | May. 24 | May. 21 | May. 17 | May. 16 | May. 15 | May. 14 | May. 10 | May. 9 | May. 8 | May. 7 | May. 2 | Apr. 30 | Apr. 26 | Apr. 24 | Apr. 23 | Apr. 19 | Apr. 18 | Apr. 17 | Apr. 16 | Apr. 15 | Apr. 12 | Apr. 11 | Apr. 10 | Apr. 9 | Apr. 5 | Apr. 4 | Apr. 3 | Apr. 2 | Mar. 29 | Mar. 28 | Mar. 27 | Mar. 26 | Mar. 22 | Mar. 21 | Mar. 20 | Mar. 19 | Mar. 18 | Mar. 15 | Mar. 14 | Mar. 13 | Mar. 12 | Mar. 11 | Mar. 8 | Mar. 7 | Mar. 1 | Feb. 28 | Feb. 27 | Feb. 22 | Feb. 21 | Feb. 20 | Feb. 15 | Feb. 13 | Feb. 8 | Feb. 6 | Feb. 1 | Jan. 30 | Jan. 29 | Jan. 25 | Jan. 24 | Jan. 18 | Jan. 17 | Jan. 16 | Jan. 15 | Jan. 11 | Jan. 10 | Jan. 9 | Jan. 7