FROM THE ARCHIVE

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In The Hoop
THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2002

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

She's Still Our Queen!
Poor Gale Norton. All the major media outlets wrote up yesterday's $235 million deal to put a halt to drilling in some of Florida's most precious spaces but the involvement and work of the Department of Interior was largely overshadowed to play up the political implications.

Not only was the arrangement kind to the swamp, The Washington Post wrote, it "could also provide a political boost to his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who is up for reelection this fall. They may also burnish the president's environmental credentials in the state that decided the 2000 election."

Of course, it didn't help that President Bush invited Jeb up to the White House for the announcement. Norton was there too (thanks photoman!) but The New York Times, which has railed against her policies since Day Zero, must have not noticed because the paper's 1,122-word article conveniently excised her presence.

In fact, of the dozen or so stories we counted on the topic, Norton was left out of half of them. And when she was mentioned, it was to question her support of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an equally exalted, if vacant, landscape.

"When it comes to energy development on federal lands, each case must be evaluated individually in cooperation with the people who live in the area," she told the critics.

But the biggest gaffe of them all was the double hit, albeit accidental, by wire-feed Reuters. Not only is she mislabeled as the "EPA Administrator" (that's Christie Whitman's job), her first name is misspelled "Gail" in a snapshot taken of her taken outside the White House yesterday.

But In The Hoop knows not to worry. Auntie Gale still has her fans in Indian Country to count on.

Hail Dictator Gover
Former Bureau of Indian Affairs Chief Kevin Gover gets a knock of his own from, you guessed it, that conservative paper The Wall Street Journal.

The mega-billion conglomerate can't resist poking at tribal leaders, Indian gaming and Gover's decisions every so often. In its latest muse on the subject, the paper doesn't mention his name but writes of "two Clinton-era heads" that "overruled numerous staff recommendations that tribal recognition not be granted to casino-seeking Indian groups."

We always say two heads are better than one.

In Your Hoop
Who's your favorite Clinton-era head? Email In the Hoop and let us know your pick.