Tribes anticipate day in
spotlight.
FEBRUARY 2, 2001
INDIANZ.COM Special
In his first 13 days in office, President George W. Bush has reached out
to thousands of religious groups
whom he says the government must stop discriminating against,
African-Americans who rejected him 9 out
of 10 times at the polls last November, and 54 million disabled Americans
who Bush says have been shut
out of education, employment, and other opportunities.
Elected without receiving a majority of the vote, Bush has promised to be
a uniter and not a divider and is
facing intense scrutiny by millions of Americans who intend to hold him to
his pledge. Yet one big question
still remains for Indian Country: When will tribes have their day in the
spotlight?
Soon. Well, at least that's the expectation of tribal leaders who have
been awaiting news of how Bush will
include them in his agenda. A number hope to meet with him in the coming
weeks at the urging of Senator
Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on
Indian Affairs.
But while many tribal leaders and Indian organizations like the National
Congress of American Indians have
remained decidedly unpartisan about some of Bush's controversial Cabinet
members, they haven't been
silent about asserting their place in the new administration. Since
January, tribal leaders all over the
country have been patiently discussing strategies, priorities, and
positions they will take during the next
four years.
One organization doing just that is the United South and Eastern Tribes (USET),
representing tribes from
Maine to Texas to Florida. Tribal leaders have been meeting all week in
Washington, DC, to discuss
legislative, economic, and environmental issues not just with each other
but with members of Capitol Hill.
USET President Keller George is among many who are eager to work with
newly confirmed Secretary of
Interior Gale Norton. Although George hasn't had any first-hand experience
with her, he said he was
encouraged by the "government-to-government" relationship she
maintained with Ute tribes during her
tenure as Colorado's Attorney General.
Ray Halbritter, representative of the Oneida Nation of New York, had
similar sentiments. He said Norton has
shown "respect" for tribal sovereignty although a number of
Indian organizations have raised red flags
about Norton's past positions on Supreme Court cases affecting tribal
rights.
For the leaders of three Passamoquoddy and Penobscot tribes in Maine,
former New Jersey Governor
Christine Whitman as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
holds the keys to a debate
affecting the water quality of rivers near their reservations. In the
final days of the Clinton administration,
the EPA left open for Whitman the question of state control over the
rivers.
Penobscot Gov. Barry Dana, Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Governor Richard
M. Doyle, and
Passamaquoddy Indian Township Governor Richard Stevens want the federal
government to assume
jurisdiction over rivers they say have been polluted by paper companies.
They also say the state has done
a poor job of keeping the rivers clean.
Meanwhile, the three have been held in contempt of a Maine freedom of
information law for refusing to turn
over tribal documents to the paper companies. They await federal court
hearing on the matter, scheduled
for February 9 in Boston, Massachusetts.