Norton Set to Testify on Indian Funds

A federal judge wants to hear from Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton before he decides whether to hold her in contempt of court for failing to fix a system of Native American trust funds.

Government attorneys wrapped up their defense of Norton on Thursday in a contempt hearing before U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth that started nearly two months ago.

To counter the government’s argument, attorneys for Native Americans claiming the government mismanaged the trust money said they would call Norton to testify.

Lamberth has ordered Norton to prove the Interior Department did not commit a fraud on the court by concealing the failure of key Indian trust fund accounting systems.

Although much of the alleged wrongdoing occurred during the tenure of her predecessor, Bruce Babbitt, Norton is on trial as the current head of the department.

Norton’s attorneys argued she should not be forced to testify, but Lamberth scheduled her to take the stand Wednesday. A hearing Friday will determine the scope of her testimony.

In 1999, Lamberth held Babbitt and Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin in contempt and fined them $600,000 for failing to turn over documents in the five-year-old class-action lawsuit.

The suit stems from a century of mismanaged mining, grazing and timber royalties from 45 million acres of Indian land held in trust by the Interior Department.

Money intended for Native American beneficiaries was lost, misappropriated, stolen or never collected. Attorneys claim the government owes 300,000 Indian account holders more than $10 billion.

They want responsibility for the trust assigned to a receiver outside the Interior Department. Norton has proposed creating a bureau within the department to manage the money, but tribal leaders have fought the proposal.