FROM THE ARCHIVE

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In The Hoop
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2001

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

Now Hiring
Looking for a job? Trying to make a difference in this not-so-normal world of ours?

Then you might want to apply for a job at the Department of Justice.

Seems the department's environment and natural resource division is hiring. E&NRD handles legal cases on behalf of tribes, including land and natural resource claims.

But the division isn't looking for pro-tribal advocates to join its litigation team. It, apparently, wants people to help defend the government for (mis)handling the trust fund.

A notice published in The Legal Times lays it out for job seekers: "The US Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division, General Litigation Section is seeking an attorney who has extensive litigation experience to lead a trial team defending the U.S. Govt. against one of the largest class-actions suits to date."

But wait, you ask, wasn't the natural resources team kicked off the Cobell v. Norton lawsuit, because that's what my trusted friends at Indianz.Com said? Yes. And here's where the tricky stuff comes in. At a status conference hearing this week, Norton's new defense team indicated it had gotten control of the case for at least a week, if not two.

Yet the notice was published on October 26, just days before U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth blasted the government for changing legal teams for the third time.

Now, In The Hoop isn't one to gossip, so you didn't hear this from us, but it sounds like the folks over at DOJ don't know what they are doing.

But like that comes as a surprise.

Now Hiring, Part II
You won't guess who else is hiring, though. After operating without a Chief Information Officer for months, it seems the Bureau of Indian Affairs is closing in on a target.

But apparently still stung by the departure of Dom Nessi and the trail of tears he left when he moved to the National Park Service, the BIA seems to have "reassigned" this position to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma -- as far away from the Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust as humanly possible.

We'd like to direct you to the job description on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management web site, but the link doesn't work, probably because the closing date to apply was October 24.

But if you want a senior executive service job that pays between $117,479 and $133,799, you might want to have these qualifications:

Be able to give court depositions.
Be able to avoid having your picture taken.
Be able to compare the trust fund debacle to Yogi Berra.
Be able to take off on a whim and fly on the Concorde to Paris.
Be able to have oversight of an office but forget who was running it.
Be able to spill your guts about BIA security loopholes to a national publication.
Be able to testify in court, then suggest the testimony was misleading, but not come forward personally about it.
Look good in orange.