Indianz.com
How often does a Cabinet member get roundly criticized by a federal court
yet the event goes unnoticed by the overwhelming majority of the national
press? Whenever it involves Indians.
Few would argue the anthrax scare that has hit Washington, D.C. and New York
doesn’t warrant attention. Hundreds in the Senate — where friends, family
and colleagues work — were tested for the rare bacterium and, at latest
count, 29 members of Majority Leader Tom Daschle’s (D-S.D.) staff and two
police officers came back positive.
But the estimated 300,000 American Indians whom the Department of Interior
can’t tell how much they are owed after more than 100 years of being
required to are surely worth at least some coverage, one would think.
Yet neither The Washington Post — who also ignored a court investigator’s
most recent recommendation of contempt for Secretary Gale Norton — nor The
Washington Times — who’d rather cover mascots when it comes to Indians —
found the time to report it.
As for The New York Times, well, when they talk about the trust fund, it’s
to preach. Sort of reminds In The Hoop of the “statements of progress and
metaphors” that landed Babbitt in court.
Anyway, save for your trusty Indianz.Com and The Denver Post — home to the
Native American Rights Fund behind the case — the Associated Press was the
only media organization to file a story on the latest “charade” at the
Interior. Robert “I’m Matt Kelley’s Replacement” Gehrke writes:
“The Interior Department continues to mislead a judge overseeing the
government’s effort to reform a system that has mismanaged hundreds of
millions of dollars in Indian land royalties, a court-appointed watchdog
said Tuesday.
“Secretary Gale Norton ‘carries the ultimate responsibility for the repeated
untruthful and knowingly inaccurate and incomplete submissions’ to the
court, Joseph Kieffer III wrote in his latest report to U.S. District Judge
Royce Lamberth.
“Under Norton, reform of the American Indian Trust Fund, which manages
roughly $500 million a year in royalties, has been stymied by the same lack
of leadership and candor that plagued her predecessor, Bruce Babbitt,
Kieffer said.
“The pattern of deceit calls into question whether Interior is capable of
ever fixing the trust fund, he said.”
Interior Watch
Will anyone step down, suddenly retire, be “reassigned” or mysteriously
depart the Interior due to the ongoing debacle? Special Trustee Tom
Slonaker? Bureau of Indian Affairs Deputy Commissioner Sharon Blackwell?
Solicitor Bill Myers?
In The Hoop votes for no one. Not just yet.
In Your Hoop
Who is your pick to get the ax at the Interior? Email In the Hoop and let us
know your thoughts on the subject.
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