Post by Okwes on Mar 17, 2006 11:46:01 GMT -5
Tribes Say Parade Of Interior Appointees Hurts Their Chances
Tribes Say Parade Of Interior Appointees Hurts Their Chances By Karen
Florin Published on 3/16/2006
www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=d188abb7-f3e2-4ba6-8385-ae5d175fa042
Leaders of the two Connecticut tribes whose futures depended on
decisions made by U.S. Department of the Interior officials say frequent
changes in the department and its Bureau of Indian Affairs has taken a
toll. "I don't know what's going on down there," said Marcia
Jones Flowers, chairwoman of the Eastern Pequots. "Look at the
people who have left. The DOI has been under siege. There's no doubt
about it." Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton has announced she
will be leaving at the end of the month. Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett
will be designated acting secretary until a replacement is nominated by
President Bush and confirmed by Congress. In the meantime, the BIA is
without an assistant secretary, following the departure of David W.
Anderson a year ago. Associate Deputy Secretary James Cason is
performing the acting secretary's duties. A parade of political
appointees occupied the assistant secretary seat over the past five
years as the Eastern Pequots and the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation awaited
final decisions on their petitions for federal recognition. The tribes
received positive decisions under appointees of both the Clinton and
Bush administrations –– including Norton and her predecessor, Bruce
Babbitt, and BIA Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb and his predecessor,
Kevin Gover. But their luck ran out last year when Department of the
Interior judges, reviewing appeals filed by the State of Connecticut and
local towns, vacated the BIA's decisions to recognize the tribes. The
BIA, under Cason's leadership, upheld the judge's decision. Connecticut
officials, including Gov. M. Jodi Rell, members of the congressional
delegation and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, had lobbied hard
against the tribes' recognition, and both tribes have asserted the
denials were political decisions. Flowers' request that Norton review
the decision not to recognize the Eastern Pequots has gone nowhere, and
the Schaghticokes, who have appealed their negative decision in federal
court, are also frustrated. "As far as the Gale Norton episode
goes, I think there was pressure applied to her for everything going on
around here," said Richard Velky, chief of the Schaghticokes.
"We certainly didn't like the reconsideration and final
determination, which happened when she was at the helm. We felt and
still feel it was a politically influenced decision. We were under a
court order. We felt everyone here in the Connecticut delegation
violated it." North Stonington First Selectman Nicholas H. Mullane
II, who had opposed the tribes' recognition bids –– and their
planned development of federal reservations and casinos –– said the
BIA under Norton's tenure has evolved from "a rogue-type of
department that was creating things without any balance or checks"
to one that is issuing decisions based on an interpretation of the
regulations. Some news reports have suggested that former U.S. Sen.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, a Northern Cheyenne Indian, could
be nominated for Interior secretary. Flowers and Velky said their tribes
are likely to be treated more fairly with an American Indian at the helm
of the Interior Department and the BIA, but Mullane said it doesn't
matter. "I think you have to put a good administration in," he
said. "It shouldn't matter whether he is Caucasian,
African-American, Asian or what."
Tribes Say Parade Of Interior Appointees Hurts Their Chances By Karen
Florin Published on 3/16/2006
www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=d188abb7-f3e2-4ba6-8385-ae5d175fa042
Leaders of the two Connecticut tribes whose futures depended on
decisions made by U.S. Department of the Interior officials say frequent
changes in the department and its Bureau of Indian Affairs has taken a
toll. "I don't know what's going on down there," said Marcia
Jones Flowers, chairwoman of the Eastern Pequots. "Look at the
people who have left. The DOI has been under siege. There's no doubt
about it." Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton has announced she
will be leaving at the end of the month. Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett
will be designated acting secretary until a replacement is nominated by
President Bush and confirmed by Congress. In the meantime, the BIA is
without an assistant secretary, following the departure of David W.
Anderson a year ago. Associate Deputy Secretary James Cason is
performing the acting secretary's duties. A parade of political
appointees occupied the assistant secretary seat over the past five
years as the Eastern Pequots and the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation awaited
final decisions on their petitions for federal recognition. The tribes
received positive decisions under appointees of both the Clinton and
Bush administrations –– including Norton and her predecessor, Bruce
Babbitt, and BIA Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb and his predecessor,
Kevin Gover. But their luck ran out last year when Department of the
Interior judges, reviewing appeals filed by the State of Connecticut and
local towns, vacated the BIA's decisions to recognize the tribes. The
BIA, under Cason's leadership, upheld the judge's decision. Connecticut
officials, including Gov. M. Jodi Rell, members of the congressional
delegation and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, had lobbied hard
against the tribes' recognition, and both tribes have asserted the
denials were political decisions. Flowers' request that Norton review
the decision not to recognize the Eastern Pequots has gone nowhere, and
the Schaghticokes, who have appealed their negative decision in federal
court, are also frustrated. "As far as the Gale Norton episode
goes, I think there was pressure applied to her for everything going on
around here," said Richard Velky, chief of the Schaghticokes.
"We certainly didn't like the reconsideration and final
determination, which happened when she was at the helm. We felt and
still feel it was a politically influenced decision. We were under a
court order. We felt everyone here in the Connecticut delegation
violated it." North Stonington First Selectman Nicholas H. Mullane
II, who had opposed the tribes' recognition bids –– and their
planned development of federal reservations and casinos –– said the
BIA under Norton's tenure has evolved from "a rogue-type of
department that was creating things without any balance or checks"
to one that is issuing decisions based on an interpretation of the
regulations. Some news reports have suggested that former U.S. Sen.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, a Northern Cheyenne Indian, could
be nominated for Interior secretary. Flowers and Velky said their tribes
are likely to be treated more fairly with an American Indian at the helm
of the Interior Department and the BIA, but Mullane said it doesn't
matter. "I think you have to put a good administration in," he
said. "It shouldn't matter whether he is Caucasian,
African-American, Asian or what."