Long Branch, NJ --- Appalled by reports that the Special Trustee for American Indians threatened to withhold checks and cancel meetings with Indian Trust beneficiaries as retaliation to a court ruling last week, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today sent a letter to Special Trustee Ross Swimmer saying he was deeply disturbed by these actions and demanding that Swimmer comply with the court's ruling to provide information to beneficiaries.

Last Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in Cobell v. Norton Individual Indian Trust class action and said that all sales and transfers of Indian-owned land by the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs must include a detailed, court-approved notification of the landowner's rights as trust beneficiaries. After Thursday's ruling, according to the plaintiffs, a defiant Swimmer said he would cut off checks to beneficiaries, cancel scheduled community meetings and refuse to meet with Indian Trust beneficiaries.

"If this is true, I must say that I find your actions to be disturbing," Pallone wrote in his letter to Special Trustee Swimmer. "The fact that you are a government official, charged with upholding the law, makes such tactics all the more disconcerting.

"As you are well aware, as trustee, you have the primary fiduciary responsibility to inform Individual Indian Monies (IIM) beneficiaries about the status of their accounts," Pallone continued. "I do not see how you can effectively fulfill this obligation if you refuse to communicate with beneficiaries about their rights. Furthermore, I am not certain that you have the statutory authority to cut off checks to beneficiaries, which I might add, many American Indians rely on to purchase food and medications.

"While you claim to have consulted with tribal leaders about trust reform, you have often disregarded their comments and taken the position that you know what is best for beneficiaries," Pallone continued. "It is such a paternalistic attitude that has long plagued relations between the federal government and Native Americans."

Pallone, a vice-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Native Americans, welcomed news from the plaintiffs late Friday that Judge Lambert said any retaliatory actions by Special Trustee Swimmer and others in the Interior Department must cease.