by Robert Gehrke
Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) _ A government attorney acknowledged inadequacies in status
reports on the Interior Department’s efforts to fix its management of
royalties from Indian lands. Still, Interior Secretary Gale Norton should
not be held in contempt, he said Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who has held two other Cabinet officials
in contempt in the case, said there were “material omissions’ in the
reports that concealed major problems with efforts to fix the $500
million-a-year fund.
In occasionally tense exchanges during closing arguments in Norton’s trial,
Lamberth grilled Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Nagle on why those omissions
did not constitute contempt.
“In fact they did not comply with my order on their face,” Lamberth said.
“They did not report on the status of trust reform and their efforts to
bring themselves into compliance.”
Nagle conceded the department’s reports often were unclear or incomplete.
But he argued there was not an intentional pattern of deception and the
omissions do not meet the legal requirements for civil contempt.
The contempt charges against Norton and Assistant Secretary of Indian
Affairs Neal A. McCaleb stem from a 5 1/2-year-old lawsuit brought by
Indians. They are seeking compensation for the government’s acknowledged
mismanagement of royalties for gas exploration, timber harvesting and cattle
grazing on their land.
The lawsuit claims 300,000 Indians together lost more than $10 billion. The
government disputes the amount.
Lamberth previously held in contempt Clinton administration Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. They were fined
$600,000 for not disclosing the destruction of documents related to the
case. The federal government paid the fines.
Thursday’s arguments marked the end of 29 days of testimony in Norton’s
trial. If Lamberth finds she willfully misled him, he could impose fines and
potentially jail time, although that is unlikely. It also could clear the
way for Lamberth to consider the plaintiffs’ request to strip Interior of
its trust management responsibilities.
Indian attorney Dennis Gingold said the judge needed to intervene to “end
the nightmare” for thousands of Indians.
“We’ve got a group of people being mugged every day by the executive branch
of the United States government, and you’ve got to do something to stop
it,” Gingold told Lamberth. “The trust is in crisis.”
The trust fund was established in 1887, when Indians were assigned parcels
of land by the government. The Interior Department was supposed to manage
use of those lands and collect and distribute proceeds from oil and gas
exploration, timber harvesting and cattle grazing.
In 1999, Lamberth ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the Interior
Department to fix the system and piece together how much the Indians are
owed.
A series of scathing reports by a pair of court watchdogs said little has
been done to comply. One report also found poor computer security at the
department put millions of dollars of Indian money at risk from hackers.
“How a trustee can get into this position of allowing this amount of money
to be at risk _ it almost boggles the mind,” Lamberth said.
Lamberth will accept written arguments from the attorneys next week and
likely rule next month.
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