Wampum

I'm deep in the archives of J. Steven Griles material, and the Nov. 2001 article from Indianz.com is great background on how one of the biggest natural resources lobbyists, and former James Watt protege, ended up do deeply involved with the Indian Trust Fund:

Interior's number two takes lead on trust reform
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2001

With a showdown looming in federal court, the Department of Interior is in a rushed but concerted effort to prove to a skeptical judge that the government is in charge of trust reform.

By all accounts, it is a tough task for Secretary Gale Norton, her aides and her top officials. In just a little over a week, her defense team -- which has already faced criticism from U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth -- must submit a response showing why she shouldn't be held in contempt for her handling of the assets of an estimated 300,000 American Indians.

But Norton must also argue why Lamberth shouldn't place the system into the hands of a receiver, or outside caretaker. The government has so far resisted the notion and although Norton's new attorneys could change course, it is unlikely the Justice Department would make such a drastic move.

To that end, Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles has quickly inserted himself into the debacle over the Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust since being sworn in to his post in July. As number two in command at the Interior, Griles has taken the lead to reform -- for lack of a better term -- trust reform.

...

Whether these latest rumblings will have an impact is an open question. A former lobbyist for the mining industry, Griles was a member of the Reagan administration, serving at the Interior -- along with Norton, incidentally -- when Congressional reports in no easy terms began broadcasting the failures of the IIM trust.

Yet not much has changed since Griles was last in a position of leadership. Despite numerous investigations, acts of Congress, secretarial orders and court decisions, the government still can't provide any beneficiary with an accounting of his or her funds.

Griles was a very busy man in November, 2001, seeing that he was spending so much of his time preparing to implement the Cheney Energy Task Force recommendations. But we'll save that for another post.