| THE TRUST FUND FIASCO If there is one story which confirms to the world what Indian people have known all along--that the US government has continually and in many cases, intentionally, neglected its duties and responsibilities to tribes and Native Americans in general--it is the trust fund scandal. Led by Blackfeet (Montana) laywer Elouise Cobell and the Native American Rights Fund, the team's years of patience, diligence, and hard work paid off in 1999, forcing the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), an agency of the Department of Interior, and the Department of Treasury to admit and take responsibility for generations of financial mismanagement at the expense of Native Americans. TRUST FUND BACKGROUND In exchange for use of land and the lucrative natural resources found within that land, such as oil, gas, coal, and timber, the US government pays royalties and other fees to the rightful owners of the land--Indian tribes and individual Indians. These funds are deposited into accounts administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs through the Department of Treasury. Tribes have long complained of problems with their accounts--about 200 tribes have money in approximately 1,500 accounts. As an example, the Zuni Tribe of New Mexico have about $20 million in two accounts. These accounts pay for tribal budgets, salaries, and other tribal expenses. Accounting problems have not only been raised by tribes, either. General Accounting Office (GAO) audits since 1928 have all come to the same conclusion: the BIA is not fulfilling its fiduciary duties. ATTEMPTS AT RECONCILIATIONAs early as 1987, Congress has required the BIA to reconcile tribal accounts. In 1991, the BIA finally awarded a 5 year, $12M reconciliation contract to the accounting firm Arthur Andersen. By 1992, the House Committee on Government Operations had already issued its own report "Misplaced Trust: The Bureau of Indian Affairs' Mismanagement of the Indian Trust Fund." Even so, after 5 long years came a not so startling review from the GAO. In Financial Management - BIA's Tribal Trust Fund Account Reconciliation Results, they report that the over $2.3B in tribal accounts could only be reconciled to 1973 and about $2.4B was "lost" due to accounting mishaps. But what was startling was Arthur Andersen's revelation that the Individual Indian Money (IIM) accounts, those owed directly to Native Americans trustees, were in worse shape than the tribal accounts. An attempt to reconcile a sampling of just 17,000 IIM accounts proved fruitless. WHERE'S MY MONEY? The accounts of more than 390,000 Native Americans in over fifty reservations in twelve states thus became the focus of a new challenge to the US government's long history of Indian Affairs mismanagement. Despite years of protest and the enactment of the Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act in 1994, the US government did little or nothing to improve the accounting procedures of tribal and IIM accounts. The US government estimates that it deposits anywhere from $300-500M into these accounts yearly, so one can imagine how the trustees have felt all these years, never knowing the status of their own accounts. Other organizations which hold accounts in trust are ultimately responsible, legally and financially, to their trustees. So what about the United States? THE CASE OF THE MISSING BOXES In 1996, NARF filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of all IIM account holders against the Interior and the Treasury. But it wasn't until this year that the suit began to develop a course that would reveal a year of questionable and unjustifiable government behavior. In February, presiding Judge Royce C. Lamberth dealt the first deadly blow to the government by holding defendants Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of Treasury Robert Rubin, and Kevin Gover of the BIA in contempt of court. In 1996, the government agreed to supply to the court all documents pertaining to the trust fund accounts of just the five plaintiffs and their predecessors. But as of late 1998, no documents had been provided. The government finally admitted in May that the Department of Treasury destroyed 162 boxes of documents pertaining to trust funds, starting in 1993 and continuing as late as 1998, well after the lawsuit had been filed. MORE GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION So it was with increased scrutiny and interest that the trial of Eloise Pepion Cobell, et al., v. Bruce Babbitt et al. began in June. After years of attempts by the government and their legal counsel to dismiss and stall the trial, both Gover and Babbitt finally admitted problems with the system. Subsequent investigations by the court regarding document destruction resulted in a report issued in December which revealed attempts at a cover-up by the government and their counsel. In yet another example of neglected duties, the court also discovered that Treasury employees continued to destroy trust fund documents, despite the court's ruling of contempt earlier in the year. When Lamberth finally issued his ruling on Dec, the Interior and the Treasury had been subjected to so much trashing that it was almost a relief to have some closure on the issue and once and for all, to have the government owe up to its own failings. WHAT'S IN STORE But the case of Cobell v. Babbitt is far from over. Lamberth's ruling leaves jurisdiction of the accounts to the Department of the Interior and the Department of the Treasury for at least five more years, in an attempt to give them one more chance to fix the system. Let's hope the government takes this ruling a bit more seriously than it has taken prior court orders and makes concrete efforts to improve their accounting practices. From the standpoint of the American public and the United States as a whole, the future of the case also has significant ramifications. Phase two of the trial begins in 2000, focusing on settlement of the IIM accounts, giving rise to the question: Who will ultimately pay for this incredible legacy of corruption? The answer is clear and if anything, what the trust fund scandal, like our other top stories, should do for the average American is awaken them to the struggles Native Americans have endured both as individuals and as a collective political and social entity. Education into the origins of the trust fund in the Allotment Act of 1877 and the history of Indian Affairs since then might help destroy some of the negative or misguided conceptions Americans hold toward Native peoples. And for those who have long fought along side us in our struggles for religious freedom, cultural preservation, and human dignity, the case validates and solidifies our often-denied voices. There is no mistake that this story will continue to affect millions of Natives and non-Natives in the years to come. RELATED RESOURCES The Talking Circle - Your Indianz.Com guide to issues and politics. Tribal Law - Your Indianz.Com guide to Indian law and tribal law. Trust Fund Q&A - Background and timeline of NARF's lawsuit. THE BIA AS BANKER - From Native Americas, published by the American Indian Program at Cornell University. Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians - Are you (or someone you know) an IIM account holder? Check the "missing in action" list because you will be affected by the lawsuit settlement. Billions Missing From U.S. Indian Trust Fund - Background and information about the trust fund. From the Albion Monitor 8/15/96. REAL AUDIO FROM NATIVE AMERICA CALLING 9/13/99: BIA Update with Kevin Gover Kevin Gover, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior and head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, joins our discussion once again to tackle the issues and answer the hard questions... 2/23/99: Open Lines with Kevin Gover Hear what Kevin Gover respond to questions from across Indian Country. 5/13/98: Bureau of Indian Affairs Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Interior Kevin Gover, a member of the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, joined us to present a State of the Union address ... radio style. During the program the new Chief of the BIA discusses issues ranging from the economics of Indian Country to the trust account lawsuit filed against the Bureau.. |