"In 1994, Congress was so frustrated by the U.S. Interior Department's inability to fix the long-troubled Indian rust programs that it created an Office of Special Trustee to untangle the mess.

The idea was simple enough: Place an executive with proven business experience in charge of the programs. Congress made that person a presidential appointee accountable for the cleanup.

The first two trustees were good fits, but they proved so candid about the huge problems that Interior secretaries in both the Clinton and Bush administrations finally pushed them out of office. That's not likely to happen again any time soon. Why?

Ross Swimmer, the current trustee, has refused to be an independent voice of reform like his predecessors. He is content to be a shill for the administration.

The way Swimmer, a former head of the BIA in the Reagan administration, sees his job, he is not a neutral overseer nor an advocate for Indian landowners, as the 1994 American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act requires. He is instead a cheerleader, a loyal Bush partisan who will not tolerate criticism of Bush's programs and will defend in knee-jerk fashion the most indefensible government misconduct."

Get the Story:
Keith Harper: Swimmer needs to face trust reform failures (Indian Country Today 6/23)

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

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