The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1991-01-23

              $95 million in discrepancies found in BIA records
Earl Barlow of the Minneapolis Area Office, Area Director
By Rita Beamish
Associated Press Writer
Washington, D.C. (AP) - Federal
investigators have discovered $95
million in discrepancies in Bureau of
Indian Affairs records and are
cracking down on its accounting
practices, officials announced
Thursday.
A review by the Interior
Department and the presidential
Office of Management and Budget
found "longstanding, fundamental
problems in the BIA accounting and
financial system," said a statement
from the two agencies.
The investigators found BIA's
Albuquerque-based accounting
system could be accessed by 12,000
employees, making it easy to alter
payment records.
"In fiscal year 1990 alone, over
500,000 adjustments were made to
the BIA financial management
system," according to the joint
statement.
Officials said that $95 million of
the agency's $1.3 billion budget may
have been misspent or spent
properly but erroneously recorded.
The disclosure comes as Interior
Secretary Manuel Lujan pressed
White House officials for more
money for the BIA in the fiscal 1992
federal budget. The BIA is part of
the Interior Department.
"We need to convince people that
the Bureau of Indian Affairs is worth
NEW WHITE EARTH ELECTIONS FEB. 19
A special run-off election for the White Earth Reservation District II
committeeman's seat will be held Feb. 19.
The special election comes on the heels of a dead heat Dec. 11 between
Kelly Bunker and Tony Wadena, who bested a field of six with 155 votes
each.
Under a White Earth election judge's ruling only Bunker and Wadena will
be allowed to run in the special election. Bunker is a talent search coordinator
for the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Wadena is a Naytahwaush convenience
store manager and the son of longtime tribal Chairman Chip Wadena. Both
candidates reside in Naytahwaush.
The two are contesting a seat vacated late last year by two-term
Committeeman Steve McArthur, who pleaded guilty in U.S. District court to
embezzlement. White Earth bylaws call for the automatic removal of any
sitting committeeman convicted of a felony.
Polls will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the following sites:
• Elbow Lake Community Center
• Mahnomen's Old Library
• Naytahwaush Community Center
• Waubun Community Center
TASK FORCE RECOMMENDS ACTION
Grand Forks, N.D. (AP) - A task force on discrimination recommends
the University of North Dakota drop either its sports nickname, the
Fighting Sioux, or the gorilla it has adopted as a mascot this year.
The task force, a subcommittee of the mayor's Human Needs
Committee, also suggested that the city hire a minority affairs officer
and that city schools offer courses in race relations and Indian studies.
The group on Wednesday will begin discussing a draft list of 21
recommendations to be submitted to the mayor and the City Council in
April.
Eliot Glassheim, who chairs the committee, said the recommendation
to hire someone to oversee minority affairs is "the single most
important recommendation we can make."
The committee said many Indians find the association of the gorilla
with UND's Fighting Sioux team name to be demeaning. It said either
the name or the gorilla should go.
The draft also recommends:
•The city establish minority hiring goals.
•The mayor proclaim a yearly cultural diversity celebration week to
coincide with the Martin Luther King holiday.
•The social services staff receive training sessions to increase
sensitivity to minority clients.
•The Chamber of Commerce sponsor training sessions designed to
sensitize retail workers to the feelings of minority clients.
NOT PROSECUTING SHOOTING CASE
Becker County Attorney Jack Pearson declined to file assault charges
against a White Earth man arrested in a weekend shooting incident.
Terrence Jackson was arrested Saturday after the Becker County
Sheriff's Department received a report of gunfire at the White Earth
home of Fred Jackson.
Jackson was held in the Becker County Law Enforcement Center until
Tuesday. Pearson said evidence was not strong enough to file an assault
charge. "I didn't have enough to go on," Pearson said. "They had
probable cause to arrest, but there isn't enough evidence to hold up the
charge. But if the Sheriff's Department wants to investigate this more,
it's up to them."
Becker County Deputy Denis Engel, who handled the incident, was
not available for comment. Fred Jackson also refused comment.
EAGLE COUNT AT ALL-TIME HIGH
Cass Lake, Minn. - Bald eagles in the Minnesota Chippewa National
•Forest are at their highest population level in 28 years. The aerial count
of 157 nest sites revealed a total of 152 eaglets. In 1989 there were 163
young birds counted at 144 nest sites.
John Mathisen, Wildlife Biologist for the Chippewa National Forest
who has been monitoring the eagle population for 28 years, said that
1989 was an unusually productive year for eagles but added that we can
expect ups and downs in the production as normal.
He said the important thing is the change in the breeding population
over the long run. In 1963, the first year of eagle counting, only 10
young were counted at 31 nest sites.
The bald eagle is classified as a threatened species in Minnesota but is
making a remarkable recovery from near extinction. Elimination of
some environmental contaminants, especially DDT; public education;
and habitat protection are given as reasons for the increasing numbers
of eagles throughout the country.
In addition, a "complete overhaul
and revamping" of BIA's financial
accountability system will be
conducted. The new system — with
new accounting and financial
controls, a special review system for
spending adjustments and
specialized controls over
procurements and grants as well as
rapid conversion of BIA's system to
the new federal financial system —
is to be in place by the beginning of
October, according to the joint
statement.
Problems cited by the joint
investigation include:
•"Uncontrolled access by BIA
employees to the accounting
system."
•Employees' ability to make
changes and shift funds to make the
books balance.
•"Poor controls" over procurement
and grant contracts totaling more
than $500 million annually.
•Failure to use standard
double-entry accounting methods
and ledger accounts that thus cannot
be balanced.
Sources said Lujan is seeking an
increase of more than $100 million
in the BIA budget, to be used mosdy
for Indian education programs.
Darman's office is not
recommending the increase.
The BIA, which oversees the
nation's Indian reservations and
operates 84 offices, mostly in the
Southwest and the Plains, has been
plagued by problems.
Congress has repeatedly attacked
BIA's management of nearly $2
billion in trust funds held by the
Interior Department for native
Americans. Congress charged in
1989 that the agency had lost up to
$19 million of the funds because of
poor recordkeeping.
Voice   o-f^ tl-TLes
. i st Itlxt-* 2fcfc>«s
Fifty Cents
saving and worth fighting for," said
Lujan's spokesman, Steve
Goldstein.
Goldstein said Interior officials
discovered six months ago there
might be irregularities in the BIA
accounting practices and began to
investigate.
He said the department believes
the $95 million cannot be accounted
for because of "accounting
discrepancies," as BIA officials have
contended. But he acknowledged
that the 500,000 adjustments,
entered in the agency's computers,
had not been explained.
The Interior Department's
inspector general is investigating
what happened to the money.
The case demonstrates
"insufficient attention to financial
management over decades," said
Frank Hodsoll, OMB's executive
associate director for management.
The discrepancy "poses a series of
questions that are of sufficient
gravity that we want to make sure
we know what is going on and work
with the Interior Department to fix
it," he said.
Lujan and OMB Director Richard
Darman announced a plan to
improve BIA management, which
Lujan has said needed restructuring.
All adjustments to the BIA
financial system will have to be
approved by a team set up by the
Interior Department as part of the
investigation.
Founded in 1988
Volume 3 Issue 13
January 23,1991 j
1 Copyright, the Ojibwe News, 1991
A Bi-Monthly Publication
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601
Bruce Graves and Bill Lawrence of The Ojibwe News met with then Senator-elect Paul Wellstone following the Minnesota Minority Media
Coalition meeting in St. Paul on December 27,1990. Lawrence and Graves were able to convey concerns of Native Americans as seen from
a media perspective. Senator-elect Wellstone expressed a strong interest in Native American affairs and indicated that he would seek
appointment to the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs. Appointment to this committee would allow him to play a major role in
developing future federal Indian policy. Senator-elect Wellstone also stated that he would welcome support from tribal governments and other
Indian organizations for appointment to this committee. Any organization wishing to support Wellstone's appointment to this committee
should contact Senator Daniel Inouye D-Hawaii. Senator- elect Wellstone is pictured holding a copy of the Christmas edition of the Ojibwe News.
American Indian Fellowship
Association criticized in audits
St. Paul, Minn. (AP) - A federal
audit found that the American Indian
Fellowship Association misspent more
than $57,000, or nearly half of a jobs
training grant issued by the U.S.
Department of Labor.
Federal officials said in a Dec. 14
letter that the Duluth organization
could face government-imposed
civil penalties if the money isn't
repaid.
The bulk of the association's
annual budget came from the
$131,000 federal grant. The
association provided health outreach
services and job training and
referrals.
The non-profit Indian services
program closed its doors last week
after the grant was terminated on
Dec. 20. That prohibited association
employees or board members from
spending additional federal money.
Board Chairman Dave Danielson
confirmed last week that a federal
audit had been conducted but said
employee layoffs were temporary.
He said Thursday that a new audit is
being conducted but declined further
comment.
The association can appeal the
grant termination, the audit findings
or both. An appeal has been filed
regarding the grant termination but
not the audit findings, a Department
of Labor spokesman said.
Board member Sharlan Diver said
he didn't know if the program
planned to reopen.
"I would think somebody will take
the initiative to open another Indian
center," he said.
Local boys in the
Persian Gulf
Seepage 4
Principal believes children thrive
when they're proud of themselves
See page 10
WE requests an observer
By Mark Bosweil
Staff Writer
An impartial observer has been
requested to oversee a special
run-off election to be held Feb. 19
for the post of District II
Committeeman on the White Earth
Reservation.
Two candidates will be on the
ballot, Tony Wadena, manager of
Wadena's Convenience Store in
Naytahwaush, Minn., and Kelly
Bunker, a past Talent Search
Coordinator for the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe. The two candidates
tied in a previous race, both received
155 total votes from the White Earth
electorate in a Dec. 11 election.
Because of questioned procedures
surrounding White Earth elections, a
formal request for an "impartial
observer" has been submitted to the
White Earth Reservation Tribal
Council by Bunker.
"I've made a formal request to the
RTC that we get a monitor," said
Bunker, "a lot of people have lost
confidence in the election system in
White Earth; with all the allegations
and rumors surrounding the election,
it makes sense to get a monitor."
"I want to restore people's
confidence in the election process,"
said Bunker, who feels that a lot of
potential voters don't vote because
they feel their votes don't count or
the election will be discredited.
"This will be the third election that
I've participated in," said Bunker,
"the fourth election  on the
reservation in a year's time."
The request was submitted Jan. 18
to the RTC, but no word on the
council's vote was yet available.
"A lot of people are interested in
this election," said Bunker.
"The way I feel is that if I do win,"
explained Bunker, "I will have to
win by a wide margin, to leave no
doubt in people's mind."
Bunker suggested that a better way
to deal with absentee voting would
be to get polling places set up in
other places. "It might be the only
way to stop something like that. A
big question remains as to how to
resolve the absentee issue, but
something's got to be done."
Part of his platform is election
reform. He sees it as "at least a step
in the right direction."
"I'd like to stress that I'm not
trying to accuse anybody of
anything, all I want to do is restore
the confidence of our voters."
Brent Gish, Superintendent of the
Naytahwaush Elementary School,
has been active in reservation
politics for many years. He sees the
move toward getting an observer as
a positive approach to a difficult
problem. "I think it's a win/win
situation. I think that the RTC will
react positively," said Gish, "it
would be in the best interest of the
RTC." He believes that an observer
would take the pressure off the RTC,
thus guaranteeing the outcome of the
election.
Wadena could not be reached for
comment.