The Indian Affairs Quagmire

We just spent five days in Albuquerque, visiting my new in-laws. One day, we took a drive up to Santa Fe via the Pueblo of Jemez, a poor village set in the the middle of some very beautiful land. Because of its remote location, it is one of the few reservations in New Mexico that doesn't have a tribal casino:

New Mexico Governor Michael Toledo, Jr., Albuquerque Journal: "Pueblo's Deal With Doña Ana County Helps Both"

Images of Jemez were on my mind when I ran across this article about Cobell v Norton, a long-standing class action lawsuit over land-use royalties owed to Native Americans:

Jon Christian Ryter: Government Betrays the Indians Again

Ryter's article ventures into some (warranted) indignation. If you want an article without any political spin, here's one from an accounting newsletter that gets into the numbers:

"Indian Trust Fund Scandal Points to Decades of Poor Accounting"

Since I read about Cobell v Norton years ago, I assumed that some progress had been made by now in resolving the suit. Instead, the Department of the Interior lawyers are trying to have the presiding judge replaced.

It is estimated that the Federal government owes about $100 billion, but it's hard to say since the Bureau of Indian Affairs record keeping for the payments has been very lax since, err, 1887. $100 billion is in the same ballpark as the cost of the Iraq War. The plaintiffs are willing to settle for about $30 billion.

Since there are racial issues involved, this lawsuit may seem to be in the same category as demands for reparation payments for slavery or internment. But it is actually akin to the hundreds of business-related breach of contract suits that civil courts handle every year. I think the government lawyers should settle for the $30 billion while the offer is on the table.