THE SUNDAY OKLAHOMAN June 10, 2001 EDITORIAL Broken Trust: Can Neal McCaleb Overhaul the BIA? AS Oklahoma's transportation expert, Neal McCaleb is about to enter a phase of his career where the roads he helps build will be based much more on trust than on trestles, on communication than on concrete. If he is confirmed as the next director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, McCaleb will need to muster up every management skill he has learned in three decades of public service to survive in what just might be the worst job in Washington. Early in the 21st century is a critical time for Indian Country, and it is past time for the federal government to treat Indians in Oklahoma and the rest of the country as partners in the American dream, rather than an impoverished stepchild from, oh, say 125 years ago. Nothing could be more key to a new relationship between Washington and the nation's 2.2 million Indians than to responsibly sort out two overriding issues. The first and most immediate is to determine exactly how many billions of dollars are due Indians from the colossal mismanagement of tribal trust funds dating to the late 1880s. The second issue, more long term but nevertheless important, is to help shape state, federal and tribal policy on tax-related rules that threaten the economic underpinnings of small communities in Oklahoma and elsewhere. Why McCaleb was nominated by President Bush for the job is a bit of a mystery. He's a Chickasaw tribal member, but McCaleb's government experience, while extensive, has been spent mostly in state government, particularly in transportation-related roles. At age 65, he will be considerably older than two men with strong Oklahoma ties, Ross Swimmer and Kevin Gover, were when they held the BIA job over parts of the past two decades after each had extensive experience in tribal affairs. This is not to say that McCaleb isn't up to the task, but he will need to assemble a forward-thinking, reform-minded team with him in Washington. His first role should be to take the lead fixing the Indian trust fund, a debacle of such huge proportions that it was tagged last week by a Senate committee as No. 2 (behind Boston's "Big Dig" tunnel project) on a list of Washington's "Ten Worst" cases of waste, fraud and abuse. The trusts were originally established in 1887 to compensate Indians as reservations were broken up. Royalties from minerals and other natural resources were collected by the government, then put into accounts; the accounts grew as the original allotments were handed down. Both the Interior, in which the BIA is housed, and the Treasury departments share responsibilities for the accounts. But a lawsuit filed in 1996 by a Montana woman and other Indians revealed what many tribal leaders through the years had feared: The government has lost or destroyed many of the accounts' records, and much of the money from the accounts had been mingled with other accounts, meaning thousands of trust holders have received only a pittance of what they were owed. A federal judge handling the lawsuit described the government's management of the accounts as "fiscal and governmental irresponsibility in its purest form." As many as 500,000 beneficiaries may be affected; how much is owed is in the billions of dollars. But there is hope. After federal courts rejected the government's defense in the case, the Bush administration - new to the issue - recently said it wouldn't fight the case any further. This is where McCaleb should exercise leadership, as the point man for the United States government that his team will begin to give Indians an accurate accounting of what is owed, with reassurances that it will be handled correctly in the future. It is a job that will take years, perhaps beyond the current administration, but it must be done. He also could use his position, as he travels to Indian Country, to encourage tribes to work with states and municipalities on tax-related issues. McCaleb, in a recent interview with The Oklahoman, was right on target when he said tribes, through agreements and compacts, should share and pay some of the taxes that non-Indian retailers pay. Doing so respects the tribes' sovereignty - as McCaleb said, "they have the right to a tax base, too" - while helping to maintain government-funded services and infrastructure. We wish McCaleb well. If he handles the twin issues of the trust accounts and taxes with a mix of boldness and care, he will have helped repair the agency's reputation, and more importantly, bring a bit of economic vitality to a group of Americans who need it. #####