As often happens during the Olympics, a torch has been passed-this one on the National Indian Gaming Commission.

Norman H. DesRosiers, vice chairman of the commission, ended his three-year term at the end of January and passed on the responsibility to Steffani A. Cochran, who took office around the same time. DesRosiers left to take a position on the San Manuel Band of Indians' gaming authority.

During his tenure, which DesRosiers said was a very contentious time in Indian gaming, the Department of Interior established a regulatory agency under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to oversee tribal gaming. During that time DesRosiers, who had many years of tribal gaming experience before he joined the commission, was in the thick of things providing input and advice on issues facing the commission. He led the implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act requirements and proposed standards for Class II gaming. It was that proposal and the reaction of gaming tribes to it, that turned out to be the most controversial of his tenure, although the technical standards proposed for Class II gaming were adopted.

During most of his tenure there were only two members on the commission, instead of the normal three. That remains the case today.

Commissioner Cochran is a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma who has been special counsel for Indian Affairs in the New Mexico Attorney General's Office and general counsel for the Pueblo of Pojoaque.

By Staff