by Bill McAllister
Denver Post Washington Bureau Chief
The Denver Post
WASHINGTON – Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and
nine other current and former Interior Department officials may face
contempt of court proceedings as a result of a court official’s
recommendation Wednesday.
Alan Balaran, a special master overseeing a lawsuit involving mismanagement
of billions of dollars in Indian trust accounts, urged U.S. District Judge
Royce C. Lamberth to initiate the proceedings because of actions officials
took against a Bureau of Indian Affairs supervisor in New Mexico.
Balaran said he found “sufficient evidence” that Mona Infield of Albuquerque
was subjected to retaliatory action because she had cooperated with lawyers
pressing the case against the government. The master did not specify who
should be charged, but lawyers for the Indians had urged in their contempt
motion that Babbitt and BIA officials be sanctioned.
If Lamberth agrees with the recommendation, it would be the second time that
high-ranking officials in the Clinton administration have faced contempt
proceedings over the government’s actions in the 4-year-old lawsuit. It
challenges the Interior Department’s handling of more than 300,000 Indian
trust accounts and demands that the government make a full accounting of the
money owed each of the Indians.
“We regret the recommendation of the special master,” said Stephanine Hanna,
an Interior spokeswoman. She said the department is ready to present
evidence that would support its contention that it did not act improperly
against Infield. “We look forward to having our day in court,” said Christine Romano, a
Justice Department spokeswoman.
Kevin Gover, the Clinton administration’s Bureau of Indian Affairs director,
said Infield “got caught up” in the agency’s plans to transfer her office to
northern Virginia but said officials did not “single her out” for any
action. “I didn’t retaliate against her,” he said.
Dennis Gingold, one of the lawyers involved in the lawsuit, said that Gale
Norton, the new Bush administration interior secretary, also could be
brought into the proceedings because Infield is still being subjected to
retaliatory action. “I think that the government’s cover-up is starting to unravel,” said
Elouise P. Cobell, a Montana banker and the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
“The only thing that’s going to sink in is that they might go to jail over
this.” Contacted at her home in Albuquerque, Infield was excited by the
development. “I am extremely pleased,” she said. “We are finally showing progress.”
Balaran’s recommendation grew out of a motion lawyers for the Indians filed
in August charging that Infield, a BIA computer specialist, was removed from
trust account issues after she signed affidavits critical of the BIA’s
handling of the accounts.
After being told she would have to move to a BIA job in the Washington
suburbs, Infield was given no work at the BIA’s New Mexico headquarters and
was sent home, the lawyers said. She has remained there on her full salary, but with nothing to do. Gingold had asked that Babbitt and others be given jail time for the
contempt which Gingold said violated court orders requiring that Indians be
allowed to freely contact lawyers in the case. In addition to Babbitt,
Gingold listed Gover; his deputy, Hilda Manuel; and other top BIA officials
as involved with Infield’s case. He then said he was recommending that the issue be referred to Judge Lamberth “for appropriate further proceedings.”
In February 1999, Lamberth held Babbitt, Gover and Treasury Secretary Robert
Rubin in contempt for failing to produce documents needed in the case.
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