Probe underway over tribal COVID-19 aid
Interior Dept. official embroiled in allegations
The U.S. Interior Department’s Inspector General is looking at allegations that the agency leaked sensitive data from federal funding applications submitted by tribal governments seeking help related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Inspector General’s Office confirmed the investigation in a May 8 letter to Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., also acknowledging that it would examine the question of whether Interior Department officials were in violations of ethics rules while developing procedures to distribute the aid under the recently passed CARES Act.
One of those officials at Interior appears to be Tara Sweeney, the assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, who has come under fire recently for her attempts to allow Alaska Native regional corporations to receive a piece of the $8 billion pie meant to support tribal operations and programs during the pandemic.
Sweeney oversees all American Indian and Alaska Native programs at Interior, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Although the CARES Act was signed by President Donald Trump on March 6, the tribes did not receive any funds until May 6, when 60% of the appropriation was released.
During that two-month period, Sweeney and a small group of Interior officials were said to have advised U.S. Treasury officials that the regional corporations would be eligible to receive a portion of the tribal CARES Act fund.
The corporations are for-profit entities set up by the U.S. at the time of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to manage land and financial settlements for the 227 Alaska Native tribal communities.
Some of them have grown to be some of Alaska’s largest — and wealthiest — businesses.
The treasury’s decision, which would divert a large portion of the tribal funds to the regional corporations, sparked a lawsuit on April 23 filed by several tribes, including the Navajo Nation, the Ak-Chin Indian Community and two Alaska tribes, to oppose those disbursements.
Sweeney is a citizen of the Native Village of Barrow Inupiat Traditional Government and served as an executive for the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation. She’s also a shareholder in the corporation.
The situation is further complicated by Sweeney’s husband, Kevin, a lobbyist who represents the Bristol Bay Native Corporation and a group advocating a carbon tax, Americans for Carbon Dividends.
ProPublica reported that Kevin Sweeney, a former aide to Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, last reported lobbying activities for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2019.
Some tribal leaders, including the Mescalero Apache Tribal Council in New Mexico, Chairman Rodney Bordeaux of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Chairman Harold Frazier of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, called for Tara Sweeney’s resignation.
It also set off a Twitter storm between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sweeney.
“Pres. Trump’s @ASIndianAffairs Tara Sweeney is diverting funds for tribal governments during coronavirus to for-profit Alaska Native Corporations,” Schumer wrote. “We can’t put these corporations before tribal governments & people.”
Sweeney returned fire: “Even for you, this is an ignorant and despicably low attack that could not be further from the truth,” she wrote. “Perhaps you should read the law you negotiated and voted for as Alaska Natives are entitled to receive the funding from @USTreasury.”
In an April 16 statement on the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ site, an unnamed Interior spokesperson said, “Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney is committed to supporting all American Indians and Alaska Natives, and to suggest she has personal motives or that she is attempting to divert funds away from American Indians is completely false.“
Reaction from Native communities and environmental activists ranged from disappointment to outrage.
“These formal reviews into potential wrongdoing related to the disbursement of CARES Act funds reserved for Tribal governments are absolutely necessary,” said Udall in a statement.
He added that the distribution of the coronavirus pandemic relief to Indian Country must be allocated quickly and without the perception of impropriety.
“The Trump administration’s troubled handling of the distribution of Tribal government relief cries out for robust oversight as Indian Country is experiencing some of the worst impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Udall said.
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said Sweeney should have recused herself from discussions regarding the federal aid and suggested that her actions risked the trust she needed with tribal leaders.
“Ms. Sweeney betrayed Indian Country by misusing her position to influence and advocate for the inclusion of ANCs,” Nez said in his statement. “Her actions display a lack of understanding of Tribal Governments and erodes our trust in her to carry out her duties ethically or with integrity.
“It is a disappointing situation and we will continue to hold Ms. Sweeney accountable.”
Jayson O’Neill, director of the advocacy group Western Values Project, said Sweeney should have been fired “weeks ago.”
“Amorality, incompetence and corruption is what we come to expect from President Trump and his swamp team,” said O’Neill, whose group advocates for government accountability in public lands management and policy.
“After exposing Assistant Secretary Tara Sweeney and her lobbyist husband’s own self-dealing, launching an investigation is a good first step,” O’Neill said. The group had advocated for the investigation. “Sweeney’s immoral and possibly illegal actions that delayed and derailed these needed relief funds could continue to cause lives to be lost.”
Robert Miguel, chairman of the AkChin Indian Community, echoed the concern that the agency’s actions delayed badly needed funding.
“During a time of public health crisis for many tribal communities, the response of the Trump administration has been disappointing,” Miguel said. “Federal relief funds pledged for COVID-19 response were delayed beyond a deadline set by Congress and only disbursed following a lawsuit filed by the Ak-Chin Indian Community and other tribes.”
Miguel added that releasing the tribal applications made a bad situation worse, potentially risking confidential tribal information.
“It’s critical the Inspector General determine how this breach could have occurred, and that the Trump administration fulfill its promises to Indian Country during this time of great need,” he said.