March 21, 2011
Dear Senator / Representative _____:
I sit down to write you today about an issue that is getting a lot of ads played on radio and TV. A lot of airtime is being given to an apparent settlement of $3.4 billion made with American Indians. It’s called the Cobell Indian Trust Settlement.
From what I gather, this is due to a Federal agency mismanaging tribal assets. What I would like you to answer for me are the following questions.
1) How did a program get to be so mismanaged as to cost taxpayers $3.4 billion?
2) What agency was able to mismanage a program to this extent?
3) Does anyone audit this agency on a regular basis?
4) Who was the department head responsible for this? In any industry except the Federal government “heads would roll.”
5) Was this an unpublicized pot of money that everyone fed off of?
6) Were checks written? And to whom? Please send me an overview of how we got to this point, who was responsible, who was cheated, who was prosecuted for fraud, and who gets this $3.4 billion.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Douglas J Meyenburg Jr.