by: CLIFTON ADCOCK World Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
11/4/2009 4:31:14 PM
Bureau of Indian Affairs Eastern Oklahoma Regional Director Jeanette Hanna is currently not heading the bureaus regional office in Muskogee, according to a bureau spokeswoman.
BIA spokeswoman Nedra Darling said the issue was an ongoing personnel matter and would not elaborate on why Hanna was no longer heading the office.
We dont get any information when its related to a personnel issue, Darling said.
Robert Impson, a deputy director at the BIAs eastern regional office in Nashville, Tenn., was named as acting director for the Muskogee office this week, Darling said.
Hanna has not been terminated, but is not currently working at the office, Darling said.
Darling said she did not know when the personnel matter would be resolved.
Hanna was named as director in May 2002 after serving as the Bureaus director for planning, budget and management support.
In 1990, she joined the Interior Departments Office of Budget. In 1994, Hanna joined the Bureaus Phoenix Area Office as area budget officer, according to the BIAs profile of Hanna. In 1997, she was named acting area director before returning to Washington, D.C., to become the BIAs deputy budget director. In November 1998 she was selected as the budget director.
Hanna is an enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.
AND ALSO THIS:
The Muskogee Area Office of the BIA, according to a confidential source, is under close scrutiny by Department of Interior investigators. Under conditions of anonymity, a source in tribal government stated that Jeanette Hannah, MOA director has been placed on administrative leave pending results of the internal investigation.
The source also stated that another employee with the last name of Sullivan was also placed on administrative leave.
A number of BIA employees are being brought into Muskogee, some from as far away as Phoenix, to give information about Hannah's administration and behavior, which some have described as dictatorial and capricious.
Charles Head, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma member and BIA employee, has been appointed as acting director, the source said, and added that all of the cameras have been turned off in the federal building so that Hannah will not know who is coming in to give evidence, which may incriminate her as the investigation broadens.
The source stated that one area of concern for the investigators will be budgetary discrepancies that may indicate corruption that could touch area tribal governments that have benefited from decisions Hannah has made over the past few years.
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