And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, June 18, 1999 3:20 PM Subject: Indian Funds Head Petitions Judge Indian Funds Head Petitions Judge .c The Associated Press By PHILIP BRASHER WASHINGTON (AP) - The Clinton administration's top-ranking American Indian appealed to a federal judge Friday to leave the government in control of $500 million in Indian trust funds that have been mismanaged for decades. Kevin Gover, a Pawnee who has run the Bureau of Indian Affairs for a year and a half, said it would destroy his agency - and by extension the government's special relationship with tribes - to lose control of the accounts. ``I deeply believe that not only is the bureau the right organization to do this, but it is the only organization that can do it,'' he told U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. The BIA is responsible for 300,000 accounts that handle rent, royalties and other income from 11 million acres of land owned by individual Indians, many of them very poor. Earlier this year, Lamberth held Gover, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in contempt for their failure to turn over records sought in a class-action lawsuit that seeks to reform the trust system and reconcile the accounts. Gover, a lawyer and Princeton graduate who is Interior's assistant secretary for Indian affairs, apologized ``for the failure of my agency to do what it was told to do.'' He was the government's leadoff witness in a trial of the lawsuit. The trial began June 10, starting with testimony on behalf of the plaintiffs, the individual Indian account holders who brought the class-action lawsuit over the $500 million. The BIA controls an additional $2.5 billion in trust funds that belong to tribes and are not covered by the lawsuit. BIA has already lost much of its role in everyday Indian affairs now that many tribes have taken over programs the BIA once managed for them. Taking away the trust funds would be the next step toward eliminating the agency altogether, Gover said. While tribal leaders are often the BIA's harshest critics, many of them share Gover's concern that the government would phase out its support for tribes if the agency didn't exist. ``The BIA, for all its warts, is the icon, it is the symbol, of the commitment of the United States to the tribes,'' Gover said. The trust system has vexed a series of administrations, but Gover insisted the BIA is committed to cleaning it up. Next week, the agency will start testing a new computer system for managing the trust accounts and records. The records are scattered in more than 100 BIA offices, and many of the accounts are quite small - Gover said his own account contains just 7 cents - because of the way ownership of Indian land has splintered through inheritances. Attorneys for the plaintiffs scoffed at Gover's concerns for the future of the BIA, which they contend is incapable of managing the money. Under cross examination, Gover could not say whether the officials he's put in charge of the accounts have any previous experience in managing trusts. Lawyers for the account holders who filed the lawsuit also say the records are in such poor condition that the new accounting system can't be reliable. ``The question is, is the BIA here to support the trust, or is the trust here to support the BIA?'' attorney Dennis Gingold said in an interview. AP-NY-06-18-99 1619EDT Copyright 1999 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. Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
