FROM THE ARCHIVE

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In The Hoop
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2002

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

Portrait Passes for Senator
File this one under: Only in Alaska. Or, better yet, only when Frank Murkowski is involved.

The Honorable Junior Senator was scheduled to debate Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer (D) last night in Anchorage. Both want to be governor of Alaska.

Small problem: Murkowski, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, couldn't be there in person because he jettisoned back to Washington, D.C., at the behest of Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.).

"Please excuse Frank from the debate," Lott should have written. "The energy bill, along with goodies for the oil and gas industry in the form of ANWR drilling and tax credits, is in jeopardy."

Alas, no such letter. So in place of Murkowski at the Hotel Captain Cook was his photograph.

(Apparently, a picture of Inupiat Eskimo kids playing on an oil pipeline was not available.)

That didn't stop a lively debate. According to The Anchorage Daily News, there were some spirited exchanges on oil development, taxes and subsistence rights for Alaska Natives and rural residents.

And there were some technical glitches, the paper further reported. Murkowski tried calling in using a cell phone, an aide said, to avoid using government property for campaign purposes.

When that didn't work, and no other options were available, Murkowski used his Senate office phone. But he apparently couldn't hear properly and frequently overran his time limit to speak, "prompting ripples of laughter in the audience," the paper said.

The candidates are neck and neck in the race, according to a poll commissioned by a television station. Ulmer had 46 percent support to Murkowski's 43 percent. The margin of error was plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Distrust Responsibilities
It seems a certain government attorney failed to show up for yet another court hearing involving a hotly contested piece of Indian land.

This same attorney has claimed to represent the United States' trust responsibility to Indian beneficiaries and the "supremacy" of federal law over the land. Apparently, this obligation is too much of a burden to bear to actually attend judicial proceedings.

Or was it because the federal servant in question was feeling the heat from the media, as the presiding judge suggested? <wink>

It also could have been that the "maximized" lease the solicitor so valiantly fought for has vanished quicker than the Jerry Haney's keys to the Seminole Nation headquarters.

Whatever the explanation, In The Hoop is all ears. So if the tubman would like to fax us another "editorial" about the case, we're ready.

Just don't accuse non-Indians of unscrupulous activities unless you want the document to turn up in a breach of trust case in a federal court near you. "The Court finds that the United States violated the most fundamental fiduciary duties of care, loyalty and candor. . . "

In Your Hoop
Who are your favorite government attorneys? Email In the Hoop and let us know.