Interior Faulted on Indian Trusts
Monitor: Government Stalling Reform of Mismanaged System
The Washington Post
By: Bill Miller
Staff Writer
July 12, 2001
Despite orders issued by two courts, the federal government has failed to perform a comprehensive accounting of trust funds kept for 300,000 Native Americans, according to a court-appointed monitor who accused federal officials of stalling on reforms.
The monitor, Joseph S. Kieffer III, issued a report that faulted Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton and her predecessor, Bruce Babbitt, for failing to take the necessary steps to overhaul a trust fund system that had been mismanaged for decades. He said both tried to take shortcuts instead of fully attacking a difficult problem.
U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth appointed Kieffer in April to watch over reform efforts, and Kieffer’s criticisms came in his first report. At issue is the state of trust accounts set up more than 100 years ago to compensate Native Americans for use of their land. Royalties from the sale of petroleum, timber and other natural resources are channeled into the accounts, generating more than $500 million a year.
In December 1999, Lamberth ruled in favor of Native American plaintiffs in a long-running court fight, finding that the government had failed in its fiduciary duties and ordering the Interior Department to do a “historical” account-by-account review of more than 100 years of records. His ruling was upheld this year by an appeals court.
Instead of complying with the courts, Kieffer said, Babbitt and other high-ranking officials chose to review only a statistical sampling of the accounts. Kieffer alleged that Interior officials had decided upon that course of action before they conducted meetings last year in which hundreds of Indians across the United States were asked for their opinions about what kind of accounting approach was best. That process, Kieffer said, apparently was a sham to make it appear that work was proceeding.
The Indians who participated in the meetings “didn’t realize . . . their response had already fallen on deaf ears before it was ever recorded,” Kieffer wrote. He said Norton, who took office this year, must share the blame for continuing with the sampling plan.
Lawyers for the Native Americans contend that a minimum of $10 billion is owed because of mismanagement. Keith Harper, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, said yesterday that they will ask Lamberth to hold Babbitt and Norton in contempt of court.
Interior spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna declined to comment on Kieffer’s findings, saying officials had not had an opportunity to fully review his report. On Tuesday, Norton issued a memorandum that said she had an “unequivocal commitment” to making trust reforms and that she would design a method for a historical accounting. Norton created a special office to plan and complete the process.
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