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In The Hoop
THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2002

Welcome to In The Hoop, Indianz.Com's occasional column about assorted Indian issues.

We're Not Making This Up!
After spending $40 million on a computer system that had a number of software bugs, the state of New Mexico has decided to scrap it for a cheaper package.

But unlike a similarly-named (and similarly-priced) project over at the Department of Interior, the Taxation and Revenue Information Management System, or TRIMS, wasn't a complete failure. It actually performed its task, even though the state had to dump two private contractors and take the project on itself, according to The Albuquerque Journal.

So instead, the state will use an Internet-based software system. Which is all good and dandy until a federal judge orders....

The HLIP has Left the Building!
Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Gregg Bourland, best known for that widely reported "apples" comment he made at the National Congress of American Indians in November, has come up with a solution to the Indian Trust Problem.

At a recent scoping / consultation / moping / complaining / sleeping / insultation meeting in South Dakota, his home state, he brought up the proposal. If you haven't read it, you can catch a copy on Indian Country Today.

Unfortunately, his idea probably won't sit well with the bigwigs at the Interior, as it focuses on the implementation of the High Level Implementation Plan (HLIP), that blueprint to trust reform Secretary Gale Norton has now seen fit to throw away like Ross Swimmer's contracting oversight. But you can't blame the "on top" Bourland too much, considering how Norton and her aides won't let anyone into their circle jerk.

Shredding has Begun!
Capitol Hill's most anticipated hearings since the Ojibwe land-into-trust controversy have started this morning. Rep. James C. Greenwood (R-Pa.) kicked off his House Energy and Commerce subcommittee gathering by calling the Enron fall a "tragedy."

He then criticized fired Arthur Andersen auditor David B. Duncan, who oversaw destruction of Enron documents. Duncan has been subpoenaed but is expected to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. By doing so, Greenwood said, he will "hamper the important work of this committee in the search for the truth at what happened at Andersen."

"Mr. Duncan surely has a lot of explaining to do," he said.

The subcommittee's ranking member, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), went on to say that Andersen's actions were either "criminally stupid" or "stupidly criminal."

Sounds vaguely familiar.

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