Top Job: Names Floated for Native Policy Adviser

DENVER — While it's certainly not a vice-presidential pick, speculation is heating up over Sen. Barack Obama's eventual choice for the White House-level Native policy adviser position he has promised to create if elected.

At the Democratic National Convention this week, Native delegates and leaders offered their thoughts on who in Indian Country might be ready for what could become the highest ranking Native job in America.

Several of those interviewed said it should be offered to the person holding what many in Indian Country consider the current No. 1 Native position.

"My first thought would be the adviser should be whoever is the president of the National Congress of American Indians," said Eddie Sacks, an Oklahoma delegate of the United Keetoowah Band.

It remains to be seen who will hold that position after the Nov. 5 election.

A month before the election, NCAI will hold its national convention, where tribal members choose leaders for the organization that represents 250 tribes. Should he seek and win re-election, current
NCAI President Joe Garcia would be a natural fit for the job, said Ron Duke, Oglala Sioux tribal council member.

Duke said whoever fills the White House position needs to understand treaties and have a strong cultural background. And tribes should have a say in who gets the job, he said.

"I think we need someone in there who's really understanding of Indian issues, not just a bureaucrat," he said.

Is Garcia interested?

Short answer: "No," he said, standing outside a First Americans Council meeting in Denver on Wednesday morning.

He said he has committed himself for life to serving as a traditional leader of the Pueblo people and also wouldn't want to relocate his family. He said the decision would be tough for anyone.

While he didn't offer any other names, Garcia said the job should go to someone who understands what is right and wrong with federal Indian law, perhaps an attorney or a longtime tribal leader who knows Indian law.

"There aren't a whole lot of people like that," he said.

Garcia has a much different vision of the relatively undefined position's authority than what Obama has offered.

Garcia would want the position to be at the cabinet level, a secretary of Indian affairs, if you will. It would be a position with enough authority to coordinate work among all federal agencies that deal with Native communities.

For such a position, Garcia sees someone with a long history in Washington and a love for Native people. For example, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson might bring just the right level of knowledge of Native issues and understanding of the federal machine, he said.

Steve Banner, second speaker of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma, also likes the idea of Richardson, but would prefer to see him in a White House-level position.

"He's knowledgeable," he said. "He's represented minorities well and is very much in tune with Native American causes."

He said Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) also would serve well, as he is a proven champion of Native causes.

Banner said he's also heard some Native leaders mention Ross Swimmer as a possible candidate for the White House position. Banner wasn't willing to endorse or criticize the suggestion that the special trustee for Native people within the Department of the Interior get the job.

A 29-year-old Oglala man running for the South Dakota Legislature offered a somewhat unconventional suggestion for a candidate for the job. Kevin Killer said Obama's Native Vote director, Wizipan Garriott, would be a natural for the job.

The Yale-educated, law school graduate has served Obama's campaign since summer 2007, working his way up from Native outreach coordinator to his current charge of getting out the vote in Indian communities for Obama.

But would Garriott's age, a relatively young 28, hurt his chances?

"Young people would look up to him," Killer said. "I look up to him and he's younger than me."

Garriott is tight-lipped about whether he would accept such an offer or even whether he has considered the job.

"We're not thinking about that at all, " he said. "If we start thinking about anything like that, we're doing a disservice to Indian Country.

"Everyone's focus is on registering new voters."