McCaskill hosts hearing on Alaskan native contracts

Sarah Palin isn’t the only politician causing a kerfuffle in Alaska.

As part of her leadership of the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, Missouri U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill has been exploring the regulation of Alaska Native Corporations, which were created in 1971 as part of a pact between the government and native Alaskans to settle land claims.

Congress has since allowed the corporations to qualify for no-bid government contracts under small business regulations, while also passing exemptions that would otherwise cap the size of the contract.

This afternoon, McCaskill, a former prosecutor and state auditor, will hold a hearing probing the Native Corporations, questioning the increase of government contracts given to the agencies, as well as whether they actually operate in Alaska.

The issue, while probably unknown to most of McCaskill’s constituents, is just the type of thing that stokes attention in Washington’s lobbyist community — the line to get into the 1:30 p.m. hearing was already forming this morning, according to McCaskill’s office.

Earlier this week, Tex Hall, chairman of the Inter-Tribal Economic Alliance, penned an opinion piece in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call saying it “appears that the McCaskill hearings are hunting Indians.”

“Any opportunity to educate Congress and be reminded of the American history that swallowed millions of acres of native lands to build this great nation is a good thing,” Hall wrote. “We realize that Sen. McCaskill may not be focused on that history and does not see our tribal firms as they are — vehicles for commerce that are one of our best chances to reverse the economic destruction caused by Manifest Destiny that left millions of our people homeless in our own homelands.”

The hearing will be broadcast live online.