And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Babbitt and Rubin 'fined' $625,000 for their 'misdeeds' : : http://www.washtimes.com/news/news1.html#link The Washington Times Published in Washington, D.C. 5am -- August 11, 1999 www.washtimes.com Babbitt and Rubin 'fined' $625,000 for their 'misdeeds' ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By Jerry Seper THE WASHINGTON TIMES ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A judge ordered the government yesterday to pay $625,000 for the "disobedience" of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin in withholding documents of a lawsuit involving the mismanagement of Indian trust funds. In a 47-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth angrily accused Mr. Babbitt and Mr. Rubin and their government attorneys of disobeying his November 1996 order to turn over the records in a suit brought by the Native American Rights Fund, saying they "covered up their disobedience through semantics and strained, unilateral, self-serving interpretations of their own duties." Judge Lamberth said the $625,000 judgment was the "only fair result" given the manner in which Mr. Babbitt, Mr. Rubin and the lawyers conducted themselves in refusing to turn over the records. He said their "contumacious misdeeds" wasted the time of Native American Rights Fund attorneys trying to get information they were entitled to, and of the court, which he said was subjected to "needless hearings on document production." The judge said he was "aware of the unfortunate consequences" in that the money would be paid by taxpayers. "Ultimately these taxpayers will be forced to pay for the misconduct of their government's officials and their government's attorneys," he said. "This is a troublesome concept for the court. In this judge's view, the American taxpayers should not continue to be forced to bear the burden of these types of misdeeds. "Instead, as in the case in the private sector, these attorneys and officials themselves should bear individual responsibility for their actions," he said. But Judge Lamberth said he is forbidden to assess the judgment on an individual basis because the government's attorneys had removed themselves and the individual officials they represented from a show-cause order demanding production of the documents. He said that left only their client -- the government -- "in the path of liability." "Although the government must be held accountable for the actions of its officials and attorneys, the court has a growing sensitivity toward these burdens being passed along to the people whom the government serves," he said. "In the future, this court may be forced to ensure that government attorneys and officials are at least within the potential group of persons who may be held liable as a result of their own misdeeds." Interior spokesman Tim Ahern said the department viewed the decision as "reasonable," but did not elaborate. He had no comment on the judge's concerns that taxpayers would be forced to pay the bill. Mr. Rubin was not available for comment. Jim McCarthy, spokesman for the Indian fund, said the organization was "gratified" by the ruling. He said it sent a "strong message" to the Interior Department that its "long-held strategy of delay, denial and deception was no longer going to be tolerated by the judge or by American Indians." "The way the government has conducted this case should shock anyone with a basic familiarity with the law," Mr. McCarthy said. "It has literally taken the Indians years to hold these guys accountable. The government sought to delay the trial to exhaust our resources. There was no other legal purpose." Judge Lamberth issued the contempt citations in February after Mr. Babbitt and Mr. Rubin, along with Assistant Interior Secretary Kevin Gover, refused to produce trust-fund records, canceled checks and other documents demanded by the court. Mr. Babbitt and Mr. Rubin were named in the class-action suit filed by the Indian fund accusing Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs of mismanagement. In his contempt order, Judge Lamberth said he found "clear and convincing evidence" that Mr. Babbitt, Mr. Rubin and Mr. Gover disobeyed his order, although he noted that Mr. Rubin's involvement came because he "totally delegated his responsibility to others and they have miserably failed to comply with this court's orders." "The court is deeply disappointed that any litigant would fail to obey orders for production of documents, and then conceal and cover up that disobedience with outright false statements that the court then relied upon," the judge said. "But when that litigant is the federal government, the misconduct is even more troubling. I have never seen more egregious misconduct by the federal government." Judge Lamberth had sought the records and other materials involving more than 300,000 individual accounts and 2,000 tribal accounts managed by the Interior and Treasury departments. The departments manage money from, among other sources, land settlements, royalties from minerals and other resources, and companies that use Indian land. Officials have been unable to produce accounting records or statements to verify how much cash has been collected. An audit by the accounting firm Arthur Andersen said the Bureau of Indian Affairs could not account for $2.4 billion in transactions involving the funds. The judge ordered the departments to turn over all documents in the case to allow Indian fund attorneys to prepare for trial. The departments never complied, giving the judge several reasons for the delay -- including an Interior claim that some records had been so tainted by rodent droppings in a New Mexico warehouse that to disturb them would put department officials at a health risk. Judge Lamberth has heard final arguments and could rule this month on the Indian rights-fund suit. Copyright © 1999 News World Communications, Inc. 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