And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
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Subject: Senate Panel To Look Into Babbitt
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 18:11:47 EST
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Senate Panel To Look Into Babbitt
.c The Associated Press
By PHILIP BRASHER
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawmakers are looking into Interior Secretary Bruce
Babbitt's recent overhaul of the office that is in charge of straightening out
$3 billion in Indian trust funds.
Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs
Committee, has given Babbitt until Sunday to explain his action and plans to
hold a hearing on the matter ``sooner rather than later,'' committee spokesman
Chris Changery said Monday.
Paul Homan, a presidential appointee who was in charge of the trust office,
resigned Jan. 7 after Babbitt ordered the reorganization. Homan, a former bank
executive and federal bank regulator, wasn't consulted about the overhaul and
accused Babbitt of undermining his authority.
Babbitt's action came the week before U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth
opened a contempt hearing into the Interior Department's delay in turning over
trust records sought by Indians who sued the government over its admitted
mismanagement of the funds. Lamberth is not expected to decide for several
weeks whether to hold Babbitt in contempt.
Homan was appointed to his post in 1995 under a set of congressionally ordered
reforms, and the trust office's advisory board accused Babbitt of making him a
scapegoat for the department's problems in producing the records.
Babbitt's reorganization order put one of Homan's assistants in charge of
developing the new accounting system and replaced the official in charge of
record keeping. During the contempt hearing, a Justice Department lawyer
defended the reorganization, saying Babbitt is ``in trouble here and he's
entitled to try and fix it.''
Campbell and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., raised questions about the overhaul in
separate letters to Babbitt recently. Campbell said the reorganization would
``lead to a serious diminution'' of the trust office.
The funds include 300,000 accounts held by individual Indians worth $500
million and another 2,000 tribal accounts.
AP-NY-01-25-99 1810EST
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news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise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.
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Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
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