HARTFORD, Conn. — Federal recognition rules allow tribes to submit various
evidence and combinations of evidence to prove their existence as an
American Indian entity, including evidence of “relationships with state
governments based on identification of the group as Indian.”

The regulations also say a tribe must demonstrate continuous community and
political authority “on a substantially continuous basis, but this
demonstration does not require meeting these criteria at every point in
time … Fluctuations in tribal activity during various years shall not in
themselves be a cause for denial of acknowledgement under these criteria.”

Connecticut opponents of the federal recognition for the Eastern Pequots
and the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, whose reconsidered final decisions are
due from the BIA on Sept. 12 and Oct. 12 respectively, have raised various
arguments against using the state’s long relationships with the tribes as
evidence for federal status:

* State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal argued that the BIA illegally
relied on state recognition to prove the tribes’ evidence of continuous
community and political authority.

* The towns surrounding each tribe argued that without state recognition,
the tribes could not prove their existence because of leadership gaps of
three years and more.

* Republican U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays argued that the state recognized
reservations, but not people.

“What the state of Connecticut does is recognize reservations. There may be
no one on the reservation. They may not have met for years, but I can tell
you now they’re meeting now with the incredible incentive to be able to
print money and make billions of dollars,” Shays said at a Senate Indian
Affairs Committee hearing in April.

And at the same hearing, Republican Gov. Jodi Rell testified that there are
no reservations in Connecticut.

“Connecticut is a small state. It is as old as our nation itself and
densely populated. We have few expanses of open or undeveloped land.
Historical reservations no longer exist. They’re now cities and towns
filled with family homes, churches and schools,” Rell said.