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Thursday, July 31, 2003

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs heard testimony on Wednesday about possible settlement of the Cobell Indian trust fund case.

Associate Interior Deputy Secretary Jim Cason said the two sides were too far apart to be in the same "ballpark." The Bush administration contends the Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust account balances are largely accurate and only off by the low millions.

John Echohawk, director of the non-profit Native American Rights Fund (NARF), which is co-counsel on the suit, said the plaintiffs are always willing to talk settlement and that Congress can help. But he said issues that have already been decided in court -- such as the accounting -- should not be "re-litigated" in negotiations.

National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) President Tex Hall also supported Congressional involvement. He said account holders should be given as much as information possible, not only from the Department of Interior but from outside sources, in order to make a decision about settling claims.

John Berrey, chairman of the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma, tried to draw a distinction between Cobell and tribal trust cases. His oral testimony did not outright mention settlement, but he said his tribe is in alternative dispute resolution talks with the government on a billion-dollar mismanagement claim.

Harold Frazier, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota and a board member of the Inter-Tribal Monitoring Association (ITMA), joined NCAI in opposing the ongoing reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the expansion of the Office of Special Trustee (OST). He pushed for NCAI-ITMA legislation that would establish trust standards and make high-level changes at the Department of Interior.

Don Gray, a trust law attorney in private practice, spoke the longest. He said Interior lacks the expertise to fix itself yet won't acknowledge it. He said the Bush administration is heading down the wrong path with its reform plans, including the reorganization.

But the "light in the forest" came when the plaintiffs filed their expert reports earlier this year, he testified. While he argued that not all of the information is correct, he said they provide valid grounds for carrying out an historical accounting by using a combination of modeling and other evidence.

Get the Story:
Pressure Building to Settle Indian Lawsuit (AP 7/31)

Relevant Documents:
Witness List / Testimony (July 30, 2003)

Relevant Links:
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com
Cobell v. Norton, Department of Justice - http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/cases/cobell/index.htm
Indian Trust, Department of Interior - http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust

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Trial in Cobell trust fund case kicks off (05/02)
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