Judge Slaps Contempt Charge
On Babbitt For Stonewalling

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate may have given his boss a free pass on the laws against perjury and obstruction of justice, but a federal judge is cutting controversial Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt no such slack. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth found Babbitt in contempt of court for withholding documents on missing Indian trust funds.

Babbitt has made himself the bane of stockmen ever since his appointment by Bill Clinton in 1993. His "war on the West" has included efforts to boost grazing fees on federal lands, remove millions of acres from grazing entirely and restrict the use of millions more through questionable "endangered species" rulings, and a dogged determination to reintroduce wolves despite at least one court order to the contrary.

Babbitt's legal problems, however, revolve around his agency's high-handed handling of Indian affairs.

The current case involves Interior's apparent inability to account for billions of dollars of Indian funds entrusted to its keeping. A 1996 lawsuit claims Interior mishandled mineral royalties. The agency's inability to answer the charge led Lamberth that same year to order the surrender of documents which have yet to be delivered.

Lamberth's ruling Monday included 76 pages of what are referred to as "sharply worded" findings, including Interior's refusal to comply with two previous court-ordered deadlines and a variety of stalling tactics. In one effort to avoid compliance, for example, Babbitt's lawyers claimed the records were contaminated by rodent droppings and thus couldn't be handled for fear of spreading the hanta virus.

The two-plus years of stonewalling came to a head last month when Babbitt reassigned Paul Hogan, a special trustee appointed by Congress to oversee the Indian trust fund mess. Hogan resigned in protest, accusing Babbitt of attempting to make him a scapegoat by stripping him of the authority to do his job but leaving him with the responsibility.

That was all Lamberth could take.

In his ruling, Lamberth said he found "clear and convincing evidence" that Babbitt and his agency had "engaged in a shocking pattern of deception of the court.

"I have never seen more egregious conduct by the federal government," he added.

Lamberth's order found Babbitt, Assistant Interior Secretary Kevin Gober, and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in contempt and ordered them to pay legal fees and other expenses amassed by the plaintiffs as a result of their delays in the case.

"The court is deeply disappointed that any litigant would fail to obey orders for production of documents, and then conceal and cover up that disobience with outright false statements," Lamberth wrote.

But that is not the full extent of Babbitt's Indian troubles.

In a case that could ultimately prove even more serious, Babbitt is still under investigation by a special prosecutor for his role in denying an Indian casino license. The charge, supported by one of Babbitt's own friends, alleges that Babbitt turned down the license request in return for more than a quarter of a million dollars in campaign funds from a rival tribe.

Arizona lawyer Paul Eckstein, a longtime Babbitt colleague, has testified that Babbitt told him he had been ordered to resolve the casino dispute in favor of the rival tribe by notorious White House "fixer" Harold Ickes. The administration would be rewarded, Eckstein said Babbitt told him, with a campaign contribution of up to half a million dollars.

Babbitt initially denied telling Eckstein any such thing. Questioned again under oath, however, he admitted he said it but claimed it was just a ruse to get Eckstein out of his office.

Federal election records show the tribe in question contributed $270,000 to the Democratic Party shortly after Babbitt ruled in their favor.