Come fill in the blanks in OIG's redacted report

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In The Hoop has been busy ever since we got our grubby little hands on the Jeanette Hanna Investigative Report that was completed by the Office of Inspector General at the Interior Department in August 2012.

Unfortunately, the OIG know how to redact after learning its lesson with another Bureau of Indian Affairs investigation back in 2004. That means there are a LOT of dark spots in the report that need to be filled in.

So far, we think we can fill in a couple of them. On page 1, the redaction in the final paragraph appears to be "REPRIMAND" because Hanna was apparently slated to be reprimanded for the hostile atmosphere she allegedly created at the BIA's Eastern Oklahoma office in Muskogee, Oklahoma. That's what started this whole saga In November 2009.

On page 2, the redaction in the final paragraph appears to be "BIA DIRECTOR JERRY GIDNER." Gidner was in fact the director of the BIA during that time frame [See: Testimony to Congress in October 2009.]

So it follows that several redactions on page 3 are "GIDNER" including one in the first full paragraph which appears to state: "GIDNER said that in November 2009, he placed Hanna on ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE to ensure employees felt comfortable" being interviewed about her workplace habits. He also decided to detail Hanna to DC for 120 days.

However, Hanna refused to go along with Gidner's detail and she filed an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint against him, according to the report. Later, at the bottom of page 9, she told the OIG that she called up then-Assistant Secretary Larry Echo Hawk and they "met for breakfast at a restaurant in Alexandria, VA, where she explained that she did not want to work for GIDNER."

This face-to-face meeting appears to be extraordinary -- so extraordinary that Paul Tsosie, who was Echo Hawk's chief of staff and closest confidante at the BIA, didn't even know about it at the time! Tsoie later told the OIG [paragraph 4, page 9] that "he did not know what they discussed" at this secret breakfast rendezvous.

Basically, there's a lot of juicy stuff in the report and we need your help filling in the blanks! You can leave a comment below with your speculation, gossip, rumors and innuendo. But if you'd rather remain anonymous, you can always email us at indianz at indianz dot com or fax us at 202 318 2182. Thanks for playing!

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