Thursday, October 24, 2002: Bangor Daily News
Panel examines
tribal claims act
State
board hears ideas for revision
ORONO - A little-known state
commission charged with assessing the effectiveness of the Maine Indian Claims
Settlement Act is suggesting some fundamental changes to the 22-year-old
agreement.
The Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission, meeting Wednesday at the University of
Maine, heard several ideas for changing a key section of the act that some
commissioners argued places too many limits on the tribes' sovereignty by
imposing on them the same laws that govern municipalities.
"Some people see the municipal language [in the act] and equate the tribes
to municipalities and that's simply not true," the commission's chairman,
Cushman Anthony, a lawyer and a former legislator from Falmouth, said after the
meeting. "We're just exploring whether we can clarify that."
The effort, although still in its infancy, would be a substantial one for the
commission, which has long been viewed as unwilling to take on the controversial
issues that have divided the state and the tribes since the act received final
approval in 1980.
The commission, which lacked a quorum Wednesday, took no formal position on any
of the changes suggested by its members.
But the need for a change in the act, Anthony said, was best illustrated by a
2001 Maine Supreme Judicial Court decision that relied on the municipal language
to force the tribes to turn over water-quality documents under the state's
Freedom of Access law to paper companies.
In that case, the state argued that under the act, the tribes, like all
municipalities, were subject to the law.
The commission sided with the tribes in that case, unsuccessfully arguing that
the documents were "internal tribal matters," and protected by the
Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act.
Officials with the Maine Attorney General's Office could not be reached for
comment Wednesday afternoon on the commissioners' proposed changes to the
settlement act.
The act created the commission in 1980. Four members are appointed by the state,
two by the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and two by the Penobscot Indian Nation. The
ninth, who is the chairman, is selected by the eight appointees.
On Wednesday, some members argued that the commission had waited long enough to
try to change the objectionable section of the act.
"We're not moving ahead very fast at all, ... less than baby steps,"
said commission member John Banks, the natural resources director for the
Penobscot nation.
Despite his willingness to press ahead, Banks was reluctant to discuss the
proposed changes in public session, suggesting instead the commission later meet
in private to avoid premature opposition in what he said would eventually be a
"highly charged" situation in the Legislature.
"We don't want these cookies to come out of the oven before they're
done," said Banks, who later acquiesced to Anthony's suggestion that the
commission refine any proposed legislation at a December retreat rather than in
executive session, which is reserved under the law mainly for personnel and
legal matters.
Commission member Dawn Gallagher later agreed with Banks that any effort to
change the settlement act likely would be met with resistance in Augusta.
"There will be some mistrust on both sides moving ahead," said
Gallagher, the deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Conservation. She
suggested that the commission also focus on cooperative efforts that have been
carried out between the state and the tribes.
Despite the likelihood of a tough fight in the Legislature, Banks urged the
commission to push forward.
"I don't want to wait around for the next generation to tackle this
stuff," he said.