"The Justice Department doesn't care" about crime in Indian Country
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Fri Jun 15, 2007 at 02:51:53 PM EST
More depressing information on the connection between the fired US Attorneys' work on Native American issues and their dismissals:
Three former U.S. Attorneys fired by the U.S. Justice Department last December told tribal leaders attending the National Congress of the American Indian convention that the potential for justice in Indian country had declined under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
"Alberto Gonzales doesn't know anything about crime in Indian country," Paul Charlton, the former U.S. Attorney from Arizona, told leaders. "And the Justice Department doesn't care."
The three attorneys (Paul Charlton - AZ, Margaret Chiara - MI, and Dan Bogden - NV) stopped short of saying they were fired because of their work on native issues, but former USA for Minnesota Tom Heffelfinger was slated for firing repotedly because of "spending an excessive amount of time" on such work. He quit earlier last year without knowing he was on the dismissal list.
The broader issue of commitment to solving the crime problem on reservations is even more worrisome.
The attorneys said they've watched a decline in commitment to prosecutions in Indian country since Gonzales was appointed in 2005. The decline was startling after the support his predecessors gave Indian issues.
Under Attorney General John Ashcroft, Native issues were a priority, Bogden said. In Janet Reno's tenure, the chairman of the subcommittee had open door access to Reno, Paul Charlton said. Yet under Gonzales, the Native American subcommittee lost its seat in the monthly meeting of other subcommittee leaders with the attorney general.
"Even though we asked, we were not included," said Margaret Chiara, who was chairman of the subcommittee when she left office. "Almost all other subcommittees had access."
Unacceptable. In one instance, the subcommittee submitted a plan to combat sexual violence against indigenous women; the recommendations were shelved by the DoJ, and nothing ever came of them. In their own districts, however, the US Attorneys did amazing jobs in increasing prosecutions of crimes on native lands, despite budget cuts and discouragement from above for such efforts. But in the Justice Department, there simply seems to be zero interest in reducing crime on reservations.
It's not the DoJ's right to decide it doesn't care about these issues - the Department is legally (not to mention morally) obligated to work on these issues. But that didn't stop the politicos in power from declaring it an issue non grata.
Despicable and unacceptable.
Tags: Justice Department, US Attorneys, Paul Charlton, Margaret Chiara, Dan Bogden (all tags)
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