And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Return-path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Indian Trust Fund Dispute Grows Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 19:47:27 EST Indian Trust Fund Dispute Grows .c The Associated Press By PHILIP BRASHER WASHINGTON (AP) -- A presidential appointee in charge of cleaning up more than $2 billion in Indian trust funds resigned abruptly Thursday and accused Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt of stripping him of the authority he needed. The departure of Special Trustee Paul Homan is the latest twist in a long legal and political battle that eventually could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. Babbitt's department is being sued over its decades-long mismanagement of the money. The secretary faces a contempt hearing next week over the government's failure to turn over canceled checks and other records for accounts held by the lawsuit's lead plaintiffs. Earlier this week, Babbitt ordered a reorganization of Homan's office ``to enable us to make progress where it is now flagging.'' Homan, a former banker appointed to his post in 1995 under a set of congressionally ordered reforms, fired back in a resignation letter Thursday that said Babbitt's action ``usurped the powers, duties and responsibilities'' of his office. An Interior Department spokeswoman, Stephanie Hanna, declined comment on the resignation but denied that Babbitt sought to undermine Homan. He ``has done a good job of moving the ball as far as he has moved it,'' Hanna said. The funds include 300,000 accounts held by individual Indians worth $500 million and another 2,000 tribal accounts worth $2 billion. Much of the money consists of mineral royalties, grazing fees and farm rent. Some of the accounts are worth only a few dollars, but the largest, a court's award to the Sioux nation, is valued at $400 million. The BIA has been unable to document $2 billion of transactions in the tribal accounts over a 20-year period. It is not known how much of that actually is missing, but it's been estimated the government could be liable for up to $575 million just on the tribal accounts. The special trustee's office is responsible for handling the money and improving the accounting system, but leases and other records necessary for reconciling the accounts are scattered around the country in various Bureau of Indian Affairs offices. Members of Homan's advisory board accused Babbitt of making Homan a scapegoat for the department's problems. ``It's like me telling you to drive a car but not giving you the keys of the car, and then turning around and chastising you for not driving the car,'' said Gregg Bourland, a board member and chairman of South Dakota's Cheyenne River Sioux. In 1997, Homan proposed creating a quasigovernmental bank to handle the money. Babbitt rejected the idea and promised that the department would develop a state-of-the-art accounting system instead. His reorganization order put a deputy to Homan in charge of developing the new accounting system and placed the record-keeping under a new official with extensive experience in government records management. In his resignation letter, Homan said that he was not informed of the actions before Babbitt took them, and he complained that the new official had no experience with the trust fund records. AP-NY-01-07-99 1947EST Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press. <<<<=-=-=FREE LEONARD PELTIER=-=-=>>>> If you think you are too small to make a difference; try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.... African Proverb <<<<=-=http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ =-=>>>> IF it says: "PASS THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW...." Please Check it before you send it at: http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blhoax.htm
