WASHINGTON -- For nearly a century, American Indians have been asking the federal government for a simple accounting of money and land held in trust for them since the days of treaty signing. On Monday, they got the attention of the highest levels of government, as a federal judge held in contempt two Cabinet secretaries who oversee Indian trust accounts.
The judicial order, citing official deceit, was a jolt in a lawsuit over billions of dollars in money and land held in trust for as many as 500,000 Indians. The accounts date to the 1880s, when the government tried to break up the tribal land ownership system and awarded individual allotments of 80 to 160 acres per Indian. These lands were then managed by the government, usually leased out to gas, oil or timber companies. As with many trusts, the income is passed on to the descendants of the original recipients.The Indians are trying to force
the government to set up a proper accounting system for the trust funds and to repay beneficiaries who may have lost up to $10 billion in the last century. The accounts have been woefully mismanaged, tribal members say, and do not comply with even the basic standards ofprivate trusts.
Clinton administration officials say records of nearly century-old oil, gas or timber leases have disappeared, in many cases, making it impossible to keep track of who is owed what. But tribal members say more than time and bureaucratic incompetence are to blame.
On Monday, Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., forcefully agreed, saying in his contempt order that government officials had deliberately delayed turning over the documents and then lied about it.
In a scathing denunciation of the government's handling of the trust fund case, Lamberth found Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Treasury Secretary Robert Robert Rubin and Assistant Secretary of the Interior Kevin Gover in civil contempt for failing to produce records of the trust funds.
The government "engaged in a shocking pattern of deception of the court," the judge said. "I have never seen more egregious misconduct by the federal government," he added.
The contempt order carries no personal penalties and is largely an indictment of the departments that oversee Indian trust funds, not necessarily the secretaries themselves. But the judge warned that further delays could lead to criminal contempt citations of both Rubin and Babbitt.
Under the order, the government must pay the plaintiffs' legal fees and other expenses resulting from the officials' delay.
The contempt order is viewed by people on both sides as a fire alarm in a case that has been slowly smoldering since it was filed in 1996. It is scheduled to go to trial in May. Legal historians say it is the first time two Cabinet officers have been held in contempt simultaneously. Next week, two Senate committees will hold a joint hearing on the issue.
"I think this is the beginning of justice for the victims who have had years and years of abuse at the hands of the United States government," said Eloise Cobell, a member of the Blackfoot nation, who is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
She said the standard of money management for Indians by the government has never approached that of non-Indians. "The government regulates national banks to the highest standards," Cobell said. "And yet when it comes to Indian money, look at what they've done."
The Clinton administration says that it inherited an epic accounting mess and that it has done more than any previous administration to correct the problem. The president has requested $150 million for the next fiscal year to set up adequate accounting.
On Monday, administration officials were apologetic. "We deeply regret the mistakes that we made in this case," officials from the departments of Interior, Treasury and Justice said in a joint statement. Earlier, they apologized to the court for their inability to produce legal and trust documents.
Babbitt says the Interior Department has reorganized two-thirds of the account files, putting a management system in place that is closer to that of commercial banks. But he says major problems remain.
For example, the government estimates that the accounts generate about $300 million a year. But it has no idea precisely how many properties, leases, contracts and investments are in the trusts.