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TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2002

Attorneys for Secretary of Interior Gale Norton have asked a federal judge to revoke the appointment of court monitor Joseph S. Kieffer III.

Kieffer was first assigned to watch over trust reform efforts in April 2001. The department at the time agreed to his presence in hopes of staving off contempt proceedings.

The viewpoint changed when Kieffer's scathing reports were used as the basis for Norton's contempt trial. The documents criticized the lack of action to provide 300,000 American Indians with an accounting of their funds, a $40 million computer system recognized as a failure and high-level tensions between Norton and the Office of the Special Trustee.

The Bush administration now says Kieffer is unfairly biased against the department. A similar argument was made last year against special master Alan Balaran, who has released equally critical reports.

Get the Story:
Interior lashes out at court official (The Denver Post 6/18)
End of Indian Money Monitor Sought (AP 6/17)

Today on Indianz.Com:
Trust fund monitor accused of bias (6/18)

Relevant Links:
Indian Trust, Department of Interior - http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com
Trust Reform, NCAI - http://130.94.214.68/main/pages/
issues/other_issues/trust_reform.asp

Related Stories:
Trust fund monitor attacked (6/17)
Task force met with skepticism (6/17)