DENVER POST EDITORIAL No more delays on trust fund Friday, August 17, 2001 - Interior Secretary Gale Norton should pursue a possible settlement of the massive Indian trust fund lawsuit against the federal government. Overwhelmingly, the evidence shows the U.S. Interior and Treasury departments did not keep proper tabs on the accounts and cannot explain what happened to billions of dollars in mineral royalties, grazing fee payments, etc., due the Indians. Moreover, the government continues to undermine its own credibility by repeatedly ignoring direct orders from the federal court that is hearing the case. The latest episode involves the government's refusal to properly discipline employees for destroying 162 boxes of accounting records and other documents needed to resolve the Indian lawsuit, then hiding evidence of the destruction from the federal judge. At any level, destruction of evidence is a serious, even criminal, offense. Yet court documents unsealed last week showed that only the Treasury Department imposed any discipline on its six lawyers involved, and even then the penalties were light. But The Interior and Justice departments took no disciplinary action whatsoever against their employees and lawyers involved with the destruction. The dilatory response raises questions of whether higher-ups implicitly approved of their subordinates' devious actions. News of the lack of discipline followed revelations that the Interior Department misled the court and Congress about the viability of a $40 million computer system that was supposed to clean up the trust fund accounting. Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt promised Congress the system would be up and running by 1999. Now it seems that Interior won't even be able to make good on a later promise to have the computers working by 2004. The trust fund lawsuit was brought in 1996 by the Boulder-based Native American Rights Fund and attorney Dennis Gingold on behalf of at least 300,000 Indians nationwide whose trust funds have been mismanaged by the federal government. The funds involve properties that the federal government took from the tribes by force in the 19th century but promised to manage on the Indians' behalf. During the last five years in federal court, however, the government has bungled its defense of the case almost as badly as it had mismanaged the funds. As bureaucrats and government attorneys hem and haw, they are squandering thousands, perhaps millions, of tax dollars trying to defend a position that is indefensible legally and ethically. It thus makes more sense for the government to sincerely negotiate a possible settlement with the Indians. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~