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MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2001

In an editorial, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer says U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth should appoint a receiver for the Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust because the Bush administration hasn't demonstrated it can manage the assets of 300,000 account holders.

"[I]f the Individual Indian Monies trust cannot be put on a business-like footing by the Bush administration, Lamberth should not dally," the paper writes. "He should put it into the hands of a receiver capable of managing it."

"Justice has been far too long delayed," writes the paper, citing "endless bungling" at the Department of Interior over the handling of the case.

From the holding back of documents to the reported failure of the $40 million Trust Asset and Accounting Management System (TAAMS), the paper says "even clamping the hapless interior secretary in leg irons in a dank cell for the rest of President Bush's term would be unlikely to solve the more than 100-year-old mystery" of trust fund mismanagement.

Get the Story:
Editorial: Reform individual Indian trust fund (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 12/9)

Relevant Links:
Indian Trust, Department of Interior - http://indiantrust.doi.gov
Office of the Special Trustee - http://www.ost.doi.gov
Trust Management Improvement Project - http://www.doi.gov/bia/trust/tmip.htm
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com

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