Del Laverdure, a member of the Crow Tribe of Montana, said it wasn't easy for him to accept a top post at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Laverdure grew up in Montana and left the state to attend college and law school. He returned in 2006 to serve as legal counsel to the late Crow chairman Carl Venne. "He kept telling me it's time to come home," Laverdure told The Billings Gazette of Venne. "I just felt like it was, at that time. He was the catalyst for it." But after getting connected with the Obama-Biden campaign, Laverdure applied for a job in the Obama administration. Larry EchoHawk, the head of the BIA, offered him the post of principal deputy assistant secretary for Indian affairs in June. "I was trying to decide if I wanted to leave home again," Laverdure told the paper. "There are so many positive things going on in the tribe and in the state, and I reconnected to that and had family around. It was a hard decision." Laverdure accepted the job and started working in Washington, D.C., on July 27. He is handling a wide range of issues for EchoHawk, from economic development to federal recognition to the Cobell trust fund lawsuit. Get the Story:
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