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Anderson's BIA ceremony almost perfect affair
Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Dave Anderson is sworn in as assistant secretary for Indian affairs by Interior Secretary Gale Norton in Washington, D.C.

Just about everything at Dave Anderson's public swearing-in as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs yesterday went smoothly. The drum group, the speeches, the tribal presentations. Even the everyone-stand-up-and-do-this-cheer was accepted warmly.

Everything, that is, but the food. The man known throughout the nation for his Famous Dave's chain of barbeque restaurants, barbeque products and barbeque cookbooks forgot the food.

No one could quite explain what happened. "I apologize," Anderson told those who gathered on the Department of Interior's penthouse expecting barbeque. "We don't know where the food is."

Few seemed to mind the first "debacle" of this new administration. Anderson's family was too busy enjoying the excitement. Visiting tribal leaders chatted with Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Even Manuel Lujan, who ran the Interior for the first President Bush, dropped by while a blues-jazz band played in the background.

The pomp and circumstance was for Anderson, a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe from Wisconsin. That afternoon, a large crowd in the department's auditorium downstairs welcomed him as the ninth assistant secretary for Indian affairs.

"His enthusiasm, his great compassion for Indian Country will be a tremendous benefit for all of us," said Norton before she administered the oath of office.

Things looked a lot different several months ago. Anderson said yesterday that didn't exactly jump at the chance to run the BIA.

"When I first considered it, I responded to the White House when they called," he remembered. "I said, you know, I kind of feel like Moses when God asked him to lead his people out of Egypt and Moses said, 'God, I think you got the wrong dude.'"

What made him the right dude, he said, was his excitement. He promised to bring a lot of that to the BIA in the coming months. "I really believe my administration is going to be out in the field," he said. "I really believe where it happens is at the tribal level."

Anderson also pledged to keep the BIA's 10,000 or so employees, most of whom are American Indian or Alaska Native, excited about their work. "My job is to support them," he said.

"When I first came here, there was a certain mustiness to this place," he said, "and that is changing."

During yesterday's ceremony, representatives of three tribes presented gifts to Anderson, Choctaw Nation Chief Greg Pyle gave him the tribal seal. Anderson's father is Choctaw.

Tex Hall, chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of North Dakota, brought local school board members to the ceremony. The tribe presented Anderson with a large star quilt.

Geri Small, president of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and Joe Woodenlegs, the tribe's vice president, gave Anderson a bolo tie and a pen from the tribal college. "We look forward to working with you," said Small.

Just what Anderson will do next is anybody's guess. Though he promised "great things" in the coming months, he has not been specific since being sworn in. In public, he has only mentioned issues like the trust fund in passing.

When asked about the Bush administration's fiscal year 2005 budget earlier this month, he said he would place a high priority on Indian education, even as the BIA budget cuts funds for school construction and tribal colleges. But Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said he worked closely with Anderson to find money to fix a school on the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation in South Dakota.

Relevant Links:
Famous Daves - http://www.famousdaves.com
LifeSkills Center for Leadership - http://www.lifeskills-center.org

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