by Editorial
The Sunday Oklahoman
Broken Trust: Can Neal McCaleb Overhaul the BIA?
AS Oklahoma's transportation expert, Neal McCaleb is about to
enter a phase of his career where the roads he helps build will
be based much more on trust than on trestles, on communication
than on concrete. If he is confirmed as the next director of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, McCaleb will need to muster up every
management skill he has learned in three decades of public
service to survive in what just might be the worst job in
Washington.
Early in the 21st century is a critical time for Indian Country,
and it is past time for the federal government to treat Indians in
Oklahoma and the rest of the country as partners in the American
dream, rather than an impoverished stepchild from, oh, say 125
years ago.
Nothing could be more key to a new relationship between
Washington and the nation's 2.2 million Indians than to responsibly
sort out two overriding issues. The first and most immediate is to
determine exactly how many billions of dollars are due Indians from
the colossal mismanagement of tribal trust funds dating to the late
1880s. The second issue, more long term but nevertheless important,
is to help shape state, federal and tribal policy on tax-related
rules that threaten the economic underpinnings of small communities
in Oklahoma and elsewhere.
Why McCaleb was nominated by President Bush for the job is a bit
of a mystery. He's a Chickasaw tribal member, but McCaleb's
government experience, while extensive, has been spent mostly in
state government, particularly in transportation-related roles. At
age 65, he will be considerably older than two men with strong
Oklahoma ties, Ross Swimmer and Kevin Gover, were when they held
the BIA job over parts of the past two decades after each had
extensive experience in tribal affairs. This is not to say that
McCaleb isn't up to the task, but he will need to assemble a
forward-thinking, reform-minded team with him in Washington.
His first role should be to take the lead fixing the Indian
trust fund, a debacle of such huge proportions that it was tagged
last week by a Senate committee as No. 2 (behind Boston's "Big Dig"
tunnel project) on a list of Washington's "Ten Worst" cases of
waste, fraud and abuse. The trusts were originally established in
1887 to compensate Indians as reservations were broken up.
Royalties from minerals and other natural resources were collected
by the government, then put into accounts; the accounts grew as the
original allotments were handed down. Both the Interior, in which
the BIA is housed, and the Treasury departments share
responsibilities for the accounts.
But a lawsuit filed in 1996 by a Montana woman and other Indians
revealed what many tribal leaders through the years had feared: The
government has lost or destroyed many of the accounts' records, and
much of the money from the accounts had been mingled with other
accounts, meaning thousands of trust holders have received only a
pittance of what they were owed.
A federal judge handling the lawsuit described the government's
management of the accounts as "fiscal and governmental
irresponsibility in its purest form." As many as 500,000
beneficiaries may be affected; how much is owed is in the billions
of dollars.
But there is hope. After federal courts rejected the
government's defense in the case, the Bush administration - new to
the issue - recently said it wouldn't fight the case any further.
This is where McCaleb should exercise leadership, as the point man
for the United States government that his team will begin to give
Indians an accurate accounting of what is owed, with reassurances
that it will be handled correctly in the future. It is a job that
will take years, perhaps beyond the current administration, but it
must be done.
He also could use his position, as he travels to Indian Country,
to encourage tribes to work with states and municipalities on
tax-related issues. McCaleb, in a recent interview with The
Oklahoman, was right on target when he said tribes, through
agreements and compacts, should share and pay some of the taxes
that non-Indian retailers pay. Doing so respects the tribes'
sovereignty - as McCaleb said, "they have the right to a tax base,
too" - while helping to maintain government-funded services and
infrastructure.
We wish McCaleb well. If he handles the twin issues of the trust
accounts and taxes with a mix of boldness and care, he will have
helped repair the agency's reputation, and more importantly, bring
a bit of economic vitality to a group of Americans who need it.
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