The Denver Post
The U.S. House has wisely nixed a plan to limit the ability of American Indians to recoup rents, royalties and other money due them under long-standing trust funds administered by the federal government. But the core problem remains: The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, whether under Bush or Clinton, has failed to make meaningful progress in settling the chaotic accounts or in finding possibly billions of dollars owed to the Indians.
More than a century ago, the federal government took control of Indian mineral rights, timber stands, grazing lands and other assets, pledging to manage the vast assets in the Indians’ best interests through a trust fund. Instead, the government’s management proved to be sloppy, even negligent, as important documents got lost or destroyed. Today, the Indians say they’re owed up to $10 billion in back rents and royalties. The BIA says the amount isn’t nearly that much. No one really knows, because the agency’s trust-fund records are in such disarray they make the Enron books look pristine.
Six years ago, the Boulder-based Native American Rights Fund and former Denver lawyer Dennis Gingold sued the BIA on behalf of about 350,000 Indians who have a stake in the trust funds. The case has dragged on ever since, largely because the government either won’t or can’t offer a reasonable accounting.
Last week, Bush administration allies in the U.S. House introduced an amendment that would have limited the Indians to collecting rents and royalties owed only since 1985, thus stripping them of any right to recover money the government owed them before that date. The proposal outraged Indians and their advocates, but it also should have alarmed any friend of private-property rights. In essence, Congress would have declared that citizens have no right to their own money or to question how the government has leased or used their private land.
Fortunately, on Wednesday the House rejected the idea by a strong 281-144 vote. Cap proponents argued that the litigation is costing too much. But making the Indians pay for the mess is like asking a crime victim to pay restitution.
Instead of telling Indians they don’t have a right to all their money, the government should get to work cleaning up the accounts. Anything less would serve up imperfect justice.
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