Tuesday, January 6th, 2009...1:16 pm
Kirkpatrick to Homeland Security
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office has announced committee assignments for freshmen. Our own newly elected Ann Kirkpatrick has been assigned to the Homeland Security committee, along with the newly elected Ben Lujan of New Mexico.
This means that Kirkpatrick will have oversight responsibilities for Janet Napolitano’s department. Hrm…
By the way, Kirkpatrick’s website is up. Like all freshman websites, it will suck until mid-February.
10 Comments
January 6th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
what other committees was she named to?
January 6th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
That was the only one that I saw on the list.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Kirkpatrick and Lujan. The Indian Nations can sleep peacefully tonight, safe from terrorist attack.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Tex should not so easily dismiss the importance of tribal involvement in homeland security.
First, as we all know, the umbrella of “homeland security” covers a number of policy areas, not just terrorism. The Bush Administration’s disastrous non-response to Hurricane Katrina is an example of what happens when federal policymakers focus strictly on the threat posed by Saracen boogiemen and lose sight of more immediate emergency response issues.
Second, it should be remembered that tribes are sovereign entities, with their own law enforcement and the same obligations to provide for the public safety of their communities as any city or state. We all recall the tooth-gnashing and garment-rending a few years back when some big cities found themselves off of a priority list that DHS was using. Tribes have some of the same concerns.
Many tribes, by virtue of their geography, have special needs with regard to homeland security. I assume that Tex has been in Southern Arizona long enough to be familiar with the Tohono O’odham Nation and its special issues with regard to the border. Also, it would certainly be foolish to ignore the needs of sovereign nations that are often responsible for land bases larger than many of our states.
Policy makers, particularly here in Arizona, recognize that many emergency response issues, such as hurricanes, epidemics and chemical spills, have little if any respect for jurisdictional boundaries. Planning for homeland security has to be done on a regional basis, and those regions will have to include tribes. During the recent fires in California, there were many communities that learned to their peril what happens when tribes are not included in emergency response planning.
If tribal needs with regard to homeland security get a little extra attention due to the presence of Kirkpatrick and Lujan, this is actually a good thing for everybody. This and the presence of Governor Napolitano, whose administration’s policy of active engagement of tribal governments has been a model for other states, at the head of DHS will potentially make for a more inclusive and effective strategy for seeing to the health and safety of all Americans.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Tom, not to mention that just because a Congressman/woman is on a committee means that they only deal with the issues for their constituency.
It seems to me that Tex doesn’t get how things work in Congress.
And Tex, they prefer to be called Native Americans. They are not from the sub-continent.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:47 am
“Fighting Terrorism since 1492″
January 7th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Touche’. Mr Cody
January 8th, 2009 at 1:11 am
azw88,
Wrong you are. The conference on American Indigenous languages held two years ago at the U of A, presented more than 30 both traditional and “modern” Indian elders and contemporary Indian political and literary leaders, including all our Arizona tribes. We’re Indians, they said universally. Anyone who has followed the struggles of the AIM will understand why this is so, just as do those who understand what Chicano/a and Black mean to those who value language in its historic and contextual significance.
Anyway, when I say Indian Nations, I mean Indian Nations, fierce and proud and relevant.
We can debate whether international terrorist attacks are the most important concern in, for example, the Four Corners area which Kirkpatrick and Lujan represent, but don’t expect me to take the Al-Qaeda attack on Farmington too seriously.
No one’s saying Homeland Security isn’t important, especially along the border, but these particular committee assignments aren’t made in regard to that “Big Picture”.
So, I made a joke you don’t get. Suck it up.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
“… it should be remembered that tribes are sovereign entities” Then why in friggen blazes do they vote for local sheriff, supervisors, all the way up to US Senate and House?? As “sovereign entities” they should do their own thing and not receive federal support or share elected officials with US jurisdictions…
Here’s an idea; just convert every reservation into a legal county within the state it exists in and follow the rules ever other county has to follow??
January 9th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
When they weren’t fighing invaders in 1492 they were terrorizing each other. A particular pastime they seemed to engage in with fervor.
btw: anyone born in North America is a “native American”. Some just have been here longer than others. Apaches for example migrated into Arizona less than 75 years prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. So, they must of displaced another group of natives (hint: those who built the casa grande along the Gila).