Indianz.com
A series of investigative reports paints a troubling record of ethical lapses and questionable behaviors at the Interior Department.
In recent weeks, Inspector General Earl E. Devaney has made public a number of reports about top officials at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Office of Special Trustee, the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
At their best, the reports show how some officials went overboard for the benefit of a few connected individuals. In one case, a former political appointee “inappropriately used his position” to help Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder cut down trees on his property in violation of law and policy, according to Devaney.
But at their worst, the investigations show how the lack of action can lead to tragic consequences. Top BIA officials knew about, but failed to correct, problems at an Indian school in Oregon that contributed to the death of a 16-year-old girl, one of the reports said.
Yet little has come of any of the incidents uncovered in the reports. Two of the top BIA officials involved in the Chemawa Indian School incident still work for the agency in high-ranking positions.
Three top OST officials who violated the agency’s “arms length” policy against socializing with government contractors were only told to undergo ethics training. An accounting firm run by their friends, meanwhile, won $6.6 million in work.
A senior fish, wildlife and parks official did end up resigning after Devaney discovered that he shot and killed a bison on a ranch owned by a friend with business before the agency. But no charges or disciplinary action were taken against the former employee.
“I would have liked to have seen a much faster response than this,” Devaney told Oregon Public Broadcasting in response to the death of Cindy Gilbert Sohappy at Chemawa. “I would have also liked to have seen some people absent. But I haven’t seen that.”
According to Devaney, he was not allowed to make some of the reports public until they were requested by the media. U.S. News and World Report broke two stories — the one about OST and the other about the buffalo kill — before the investigations were released.
The Washington Post was the first to obtain the eight-month-old report on Gilbert’s death at Chemawa. Devaney’s office subsequently posted a copy on the Internet.
Two other reports — one about the land-into-trust process and the other about the Indian Arts and Crafts Act — were also held back several months before Devaney was allowed to release them. Both investigations uncovered flaws and shortcomings at the Interior Department.
A review of Devaney’s latest semi-annual report to Congress indicates some more potentially troublesome developments. As many as four audits of OST’s management of Indian trust funds have yet to be made public.
Just this past year, Devaney said the certified public accounting firm KPMG issued a qualified opinion on OST’s trust fund management. A qualified opinion means the firm couldn’t can’t vouch for the accuracy of the financial data or that OST’s data doesn’t conform with accounting standards
“According to KPMG’s report, inadequacies in certain DOI trust-related systems and processes, disagreements with trustees on account balances, and legal claims against the federal government made it impracticable for auditors to extend auditing procedures to determine the fairness of trust fund balances,” Devaney told Congress. “The report also identified material weaknesses related to OST’s reliance on processing trust transactions at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as unresolved financial reporting issues from prior periods.
“This is the tenth consecutive time that the statements have been audited under OIG oversight and that they have received a qualified opinion,” Devaney continued.
In addition to the OST audits, two BIA audits released between December 2005 and March 2006 remain under wraps.
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