"A few weeks ago, a $27.5 billion offer was proposed - by plaintiffs and others - to settle the Cobell v. Norton Indian Trust accounting litigation. This case has dragged on since 1996, and there is widespread hope across Indian country, in the administration and in Congress that an acceptable solution can be achieved for the good of all Indian people.

In her editorial, lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell called the proposal ''a commonsense bargain for the government and Indian people.'' In light of the size of the settlement figure - an amount greater than the combined budgets of the Department of the Interior, Commerce and the Environmental Protection Agency - a resolution to this case should be based upon facts, and the facts do not support Cobell's statements.

In her editorial, Cobell said, ''billions of dollars that were supposed to have been placed in the trust accounts of individual Indians never got there. They were stolen, embezzled, misappropriated and diverted.'' While we recognize Cobell's concerns, the fact remains that the lawsuit that bears her name is not for reparations, or even mismanagement. It was filed simply to find out how the funds that came into the trust were disbursed to the beneficiaries, and to provide those beneficiaries with statements of their accounts."

Get the Story:
Ross Swimmer: The Department of the Interior and the Indian Trust (Indian Country Today 7/21)

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
National Congress of American Indians - http://www.ncai.org
Intertribal Trust Fund Monitoring Association - http://www.itmatrustfunds.org

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