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Court monitor delivers double whammy
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2002

Last Updated: 6:45 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

The court official watching over the Department of Interior's trust reform efforts delivered two new reports today that pose serious questions about information Secretary Gale Norton is soon to relay to Congress.

The first concerns the historical accounting effort which court monitor Joseph S. Kieffer III previously characterized as at the starting gate in a report released last July. A direct result of the criticism was Norton's decision to scrap a statistical sampling that Indian Country opposed.

She also created the Office of Historical Trust Accounting to finally provide 300,000 Indian beneficiaries an accurate report of their assets. At the time, Norton touted the initiative as progress.

But six months later, Kieffer says the office has barely moved beyond a "plan for a plan." He also notes the office is only now considering legal questions which, if not resolved, could wind the department in contempt or could lead Congress to deny funding.

"Better to address the issues now before Congress reviews the comprehensive plan and denies funding for it because of concerns for the legal sufficiency of the effort or allows it to go forward only to have this Court reject it," Kieffer writes.

The historical accounting is of significant interest to the House Resources Committee, which has asked Norton to provide an update for a hearing next Wednesday.

Kieffer's second report questions the accuracy of Norton's eighth quarterly status update on trust reform. Submitted two weeks ago, Norton signed it personally after Kieffer raised doubts about the truthfulness of the prior document.

But Kieffer says the latest report is hardly an improvement. "The report is an amalgam of conflicting statements and counter-statements," he writes.

"It contains no organized plan of action or even a baseline or timelines for this Court to determine the extent of the effort necessary to bring trust reform to reality," he continues.

Kieffer also raises questions about Norton's proposal to create the Bureau of Indian Trust Assets Management. Unanimously opposed by tribes, the House committee has asked for an update on the "consultation" sessions Norton has held.

"[W]hy would anyone believe that this solution to trust reform will have anymore success," he writes, "when the executive level officials in DOI who have been responsible for this debacle are still in positions of leadership."

Get the Reports:
5th: Historical Accounting | 6th: 8th Quarterly Report

Today on Indianz.Com:
Trust system takes center stage in contempt (2/1)
Norton renews push on private trust data (2/1)

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