100 Years Page #5

they imposed this trust on us.

They mismanaged our assets.

They lost billions of dollars.

Our only role was

to suffer the consequences

of their mistakes.

The Cobell case

is about saying,

"No longer will we tolerate

this abuse."

Second,

we must always bear in mind

that this is our money,

and this is our land.

This committee has worked

with account holders

and administrations

of both parties

to clean up

the management problems

and atone for inaccurate

account balances.

Frankly, we've been impeded

by administrations

of both parties

who have sought

to protect their own

interests in this debacle.

For some reason,

the administration,

regardless of who

is in the White House,

is convinced that if they just

move some authority

from one office to another,

or buy another new

computer system,

it will all be fixed.

I've watched

this happen and fail

under every president

since President Reagan.

There's such

a sour history here.

And I'm wondering

if you can suggest

some positive actions to help

to increase trust,

to the extent that's

possible on either side.

What I think

we and the department

have attempted to do

is to not personalize

the issues that are involved

and to actually be open

and candid and forthright

in what we're trying to do

and what we

think is reasonable.

[Inslee] Can I interrupt you

just for a second?

I really am looking

for a positive statement here.

I want to tell you there's

a lot of anger about this,

'cause I'm very angry

about this.

I'm very angry

that the federal government

treated these people

like Enron treated

its shareholders.

I'd like you to explain

to me what you can do

to try to get this

off dead-center,

to do more

than you have done to date,

if there's anything

that could possibly get

this thing moving forward.

What could you do?

What additional thing

could you do

to increase the trust level

of the people

on the other side

of this dispute?

Do you want

to comment on that?

[clears throat]

If I might... I think,

as Mr. Cason has stated before,

there's been a lot

of disagreement in the past

about the level

of responsibility

in this trust.

[David] I was finding

missing money,

and I was finding

the books did not balance.

What comes into our office,

uh, is a lot more

than what comes back

out of our office.

What we've learned

from the accounting

is that money came in,

money was paid out.

And we can account...

for the dollars that came in

and that went out

to the individual Indians.

Somehow, there's

a huge missing portion here.

Maybe 20% of the amount

we collect never turns up.

From oil and gas royalties

to land exchanges,

to tribal trusts,

this department has just been

a walking disaster.

Ross Swimmer,

the head of B.I.A.,

he told me and a group of us,

in person, in Billings,

he came to town, he said,

"Now, you may

contact me directly

if there are any problems.

There will be no reprisal

for contacting me

with any problems."

There was a reprisal,

by golly.

I did contact him,

I wrote him,

and there was a reprisal,

I was fired.

I can no longer

find a job as a CPA,

or a financial manager,

or controller,

or what-have-you.

I end up working

as a handyman,

reading about

other whistleblowers.

This is the way it goes.

We often say

that if you go public,

you can never

go back to Kansas again.

A plaintiff's lawyer,

I believe, wanted me

to give IT security a grade,

A through F.

And the judge basically said,

"Humor us."

So, it was at that moment

when I said "F."

[Balaran]

I could have done anything.

I could have changed your

social security number to mine.

Um, and just putting my name

on the system was enough,

and just, you know,

making sure the system

would kick out a check to me

on a monthly basis.

As a result of it, the judge

completely shut them down.

You can imagine what it's like

to shut down a computer system

of an entire branch

of the Federal Government.

The government then said

that they could not get

the checks out to our clients,

the beneficiaries,

because they needed access

to the Internet to do that.

That created more heartbreak,

havoc, and disruption

in Indian country

than anything

that one could imagine.

The Individual Indian

Money Account beneficiaries,

uh, called

the Bureau of Indian Affairs

and asked about

where their checks were.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs

referred them over

to the Native American

Rights Fund

and said, "You go ask them."

And so, our offices

were besieged with calls.

I think they got a lot

of phone calls, too. [chuckles]

So, they basically

took his order

and used it to retaliate

against our clients.

Most of them rely

on those checks

for their everyday

living expenses,

paying rent, buying food,

paying bills.

They were severely impacted.

[dog barking]

[speaking Navajo]

[woman] My husband,

he did not want...

anybody to come in.

He said,

"This is embarrassing.

Don't show them nothing.

Just keep them outside."

And I told him, I said, "Larry,

somebody's got to hear this."

I may not have everything

that everybody has out there,

but this is home to me.

It's not much,

but it's home.

I've had livestocks,

I've had chickens.

All of that is gone

because I cannot afford...

to provide

for my animals anymore.

Because I do not have

the money.

The money is all

tied up somewhere.

I wish they could just

release the money.

A lot of this depression

and a lot of stress

would be taken off

of my people.

[siren wails]

[Elouise] Of course,

the United States government,

they have

the extreme resources

of all of our taxpayers' money

in their pocket,

that they don't run out

of money,

and so, they have a group

of attorneys that just sit

and wait for a decision

to come down to appeal.

Their house of cards fell apart

on February 21, 2001,

when the court of appeals

affirmed Judge Lamberth

in all material respects.

At that point in time,

they realized

that not only Judge Lamberth,

but the judiciary, in general,

was going to stand by justice.

[people chanting]

[drums beating]

[man] All right, there,

ladies and gentlemen,

let's give our dancers

and our singers,

the Blackfeet Confederacy,

a round of applause.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen,

let's hear it

for Elouise Cobell.

[cheering]

I'd like to thank

everybody here

that has been waiting

for so long, for justice,

for the Indian

trust funds lawsuit

that we've been working on

for over ten years.

All we're asking for

is accountability,

for the United States

government to come forward

and give the Indian people

an accounting of their money.

So, with that, we will hold all

the politicians accountable.

Thank you.

[applause]

[Elouise] But it'd be nice...

nice for your mom

and everybody

to try to get some sort of

accountability

on their property

and, at least, know

what kind of money

to expect

from your property, so...

[woman]

Elouise, don't give up.

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