Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld issued a formal apology for a blog posting made by a partner who described a Yaqui man's prayer at the Arizona shooting memorial as "ugly."
After the memorial on Wednesday, Paul Mirengoff wrote a post on Powerline, a conservative blog that he runs, titled "An evening in Tucson -- the good, the bad, and the ugly.'" In the post, he ridiculed the prayer by Carlos Gonzales, a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona.
"It was apparently was some sort of Yaqui Indian tribal thing, with lots of references to 'the creator' but no mention of God. Several of the victims were, as I understand it, quite religious in that quaint Christian kind of way (none, to my knowledge, was a Yaqui). They (and their families) likely would have appreciated a prayer more closely aligned with their religious beliefs," Mirengoff wrote.
Mirengoff was also bothered by Gonzales' mention of his tribe's and his family's history. The Yaqui fled persecution in Mexico in the late 1800s and relocated to Arizona, where they gained federal recognition in 1939.
"In any event, the invocation could have used more God, less Mexico, and less Carlos Gonzales," Mirengoff concluded in the post, which has since been deleted from the Powerline site and has been replaced by an apology.
"I sincerely apologize to my readers, to the Yaqui tribe, to all tribal leaders and Indian people, and, specifically, to Carlos Gonzales who delivered the prayer," Mirengoff wrote yesterday afternoon. "I regret my poor choice of words, and I have removed the post."
Powerilne is a personal blog but Mirengoff's employer and colleagues weren't pleased with the situation. James Meggesto, a member of the Onondaga Nation who runs the firm's Indian law and policy practice, said he was "shocked, appalled and embarrassed" by the comments.
"As soon as I and the firm became aware of this posting, the firm took immediate action to deal firmly with this unfortunate situation," Meggesto said.
"We sincerely apologize for the blog entry posted by Akin Gump partner Paul Mirengoff on his personal blog, powerlineblog.com. Akin Gump is neither affiliated with, nor a supporter of, the blog," Bruce McLean, the chairman of the firm, said in response. "We found his remarks to be insensitive and wholly inconsistent with Akin Gump’s values. Mr. Mirengoff regrets his poor choice of words and agreed to remove his post.”
The firm's response was sent to Indianz.Com yesterday evening by Meggesto. However, a notice of the apology could not be found on Akin Gump's main web site as of Friday morning and there isn't a way to get to the response page without knowing the URL.
Akin Gump is one of Washington, D.C.'s largest law and lobbying firms. Its 2010 clients included the Gila River Indian Community of Arizona and the Seneca Nation of New York.
Related Stories:Attorney: Yaqui man offers 'ugly' prayer during Arizona memorial (1/13)
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