Seattle Times Editorial
President Bush can end a disgraceful episode in U.S. history by telling the Interior Department to expedite the reconciliation and settlement of trust accounts managed for Native Americans.
This scandal was 100 years in the making, but he can begin making amends by leading efforts to help 300,000 tribal members due as much as $10 billion.
Every dollar owed ought to be paid with contrition and humility.
This sorry case went to trial in 1999, and a federal district court judge blistered the U.S. government for decades of slovenly record-keeping. A federal appeals last week lashed the government for its feeble efforts to work out of the quagmire.
Virtually no one disputes the facts of the case; the government’s performance through 48 secretaries of the Interior has been wretched. Administrators then and now do not know the number of accounts they manage, the proper balances in the accounts or a way to determine the value of the accounts. All the missing numbers are big.
Money intended for individual accounts evaporated over the years, with the federal government making no substantial effort to maintain, reconcile or audit records.
This latest court fight was not over the appalling facts, but how faithfully Interior had responded to 1994 orders from Congress to clean up the mess.
The appeals court judges seconded the findings of congressional investigators who noted that Interior officials “have utterly failed to grasp the human impact of the financial management of the Indian trust funds.”
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth had ordered the government to overhaul its accounting system and put officials under five years of court supervision. The appeals court sent the case back to him to make sure the work is done.
The government is being held accountable for 100 years of willful neglect and mismanagement. Generous payments cannot start flowing fast enough. No more stalling, hand-wringing and legal or legislative stalls.
Uncle Sam, a failed steward and shameful deadbeat, should start writing large checks.
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