Tulalip woman awaits confirmation hearing as head of NIGC

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee hasn't set a date for a confirmation hearing for Tracie Stevens as chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

Stevens, a member of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington, was nominated to the post on April 28. The agency will remain under acting chair George Skibine until the Senate takes action on Stevens.

“Gaming, of course, is a contentious issue, but the senator is happy to have someone from the Northwest be nominated who will bring a unique perspective to the commission,” a spokesperson for Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), a member of the committee, told The Everett Herad.

Stevens currently works at the Bureau of Indian Affairs for Assistant Secretary Larry Echo Hawk. She has served as an adviser in Washington, D.C., since July 2009.

Prior to that, Stevens was a senior policy analyst for her tribe's governmental affairs office. She is known in Indian Country primarily for her expertise in Indian gaming -- she has served as Chair of the Gaming Subcommittee for the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, Secretary of the Board of the Directors for the Washington Indian Gaming Association and as as the Northwest Delegate for the National Indian Gaming Association

The NIGC recently swore in Daniel Little, a former employee of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut, as an associate commissioner. Steffani Cochran, a member of the Chickasaw Nation, was sworn in earlier this year as vice chair.

Get the Story:
Tulalip picked for gambling commission (The Everett Herald 5/11)

White House Announcement:
President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts (White House 4/28)