Official: Account Reform Is Failing
The Associated Press
By: Matt Kelley
Associated Press Writer
March 16, 2001
WASHINGTON — The government is failing in its attempts to fix a $500 million system of trust accounts for American Indians, says one of the leading officials in the effort.
Under pressure from a lawsuit by more than 300,000 account holders, Interior Department officials developed reform plans “built on wishful thinking and rosy projections,” Dom Nessi, the top computer expert for Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, wrote in a memo that became public Thursday. “I believe that trust reform is slowly, but surely imploding at this point in time,” Nessi wrote to Thomas Slonaker, head of the semi-independent agency in charge of reforming the account system. “I’m afraid I do not even have very good suggestions to offer you.”
Indians are seeking more than $10 billion they say was lost through more than a century of mismanagement. The accounts hold proceeds from oil drilling, mining, grazing and other uses of Indian-owned land. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who called the system “fiscal and governmental irresponsibility in its purest form,” is overseeing government efforts to correct the problems. Lamberth has not set a date for hearings on how much the government owes the Indians.
Justice Department lawyers defending the Interior Department included Nessi’s Feb. 23 memo in a court filing late Thursday seeking more time to respond to points raised by Indian lawyers. Lamberth required officials to report their progress in reform efforts every three months. Nessi’s memo said the Interior Department’s plan to fix the problems is flawed and sets unrealistic deadlines. The 2001 federal budget calls for spending $80 million on reform efforts and an additional $27.6 million on the lawsuit.
Nessi did not return a telephone message left at his office Thursday evening. Interior Department spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna said she had not seen the memo and declined comment.
Lawyers for the Indians have repeatedly accused government officials of working to cover up problems with both the trust account system and efforts to reform it. Lamberth held several top Clinton administration officials, including then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, in contempt of court in 1999 for delays in turning over documents.
Dennis Gingold, one of the Indians’ lawyers, said the Nessi memo shows the government “owes the Indian trust beneficiaries an apology.” Nessi is in charge of a $50 million computer system the government is developing to keep track of the accounts more accurately than before. The memo says the computer project is plagued by a lack of clear policies within the bureau.
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