"Larry EchoHawk was one of the class acts of Idaho politics during the 1990s. Smart, socially conservative and steeped in Idaho values, the former state attorney general had the political misfortune to run against Phil Batt for governor in 1994. In a poll of the state's historians taken last year by the Times-News, Batt - a Republican - was ranked the third-best governor in Idaho history.

EchoHawk, a Democrat from Pocatello, moved to Utah in 1995 and became a law professor at Brigham Young University. Now he's widely expected to be appointed by President Obama to lead the troubled Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Department of Interior. If so, it's likely that he'll spend most of his tenure trying to repair the damage that fellow Idahoan Dirk Kempthorne did as secretary of interior during the Bush administration.

Kempthorne - a former Idaho governor and U.S. senator - presided over an agency that trafficked in corruption and flawed, politically motivated science.

At the same time, he did little to address the long-festering wounds cause by generations of mis-management of Indian Trust lands by the BIA, which has resulted in a massive class-action lawsuit still unresolved a dozen years after it was filed."

Get the Story:
Editorial: EchoHawk's the right choice for the BIA (The Magic Valley Times 2/24)

Related Stories:
Editorial: EchoHawk nomination and Indian gaming (2/20)
EchoHawk critic still concerned about nomination (2/17)
More Native picks expected at Obama's Interior (2/17)
Larry EchoHawk critics change minds about nomination (2/13)
First lady touts Indian agenda at Interior (2/10)
Native woman lands job in Obama's White House (2/9)
Larry EchoHawk quietly apologizing to tribes (2/6)
Editorial: Ken Salazar's new deal at Interior (2/6)
Two former MMS officials sentenced to probation (2/4)
Column: Salazar reviews scandal-ridden Interior (2/2)
Larry EchoHawk won't comment on BIA nod (1/30)
Salazar pledges Indian focus at Interior Department (1/29)
Inouye praises Larry EchoHawk as BIA nominee (1/27)
Battle brews over Obama's potential BIA nominee (1/27)
Blog: The case against Larry EchoHawk for BIA (1/26)
Larry EchoHawk up for assistant secretary job (1/23)