HARTFORD, Conn. – The fight over preliminary federal recognition of two Pequot tribes is a swirl of intrigue as the year-long comment period runs out.
The BIA announced proposed recognition of the Eastern Pequot and Paucatuck Eastern Pequot tribes March 26, 2000. The two tribes share the three-century-old Lantern Hill state reservation in North Stonington, a stone’s throw south of the Mashantucket (Eastern) Pequots’ Foxwoods Casino Resort.
Early this year, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal brought a federal lawsuit against the BIA, the Department of the Interior and their former heads Bruce Babbitt and Kevin Gover in an attempt to overturn the recognition.
Blumenthal claimed the BIA failed to comply with Freedom of Information requests from three towns neighboring the tribes. Days before the end of the comment period, he said he might drop the suit in return for another extension.
At unrelated hearings at the state capitol, Blumenthal told a Norwich Bulletin reporter his office was negotiating “a temporary or interim solution to our search for documents” with the U.S. Department of Justice. Other, unconfirmed reports, said a proposed compromise would extend the comment period another three months.
Blumenthal did not return a call to his office for comment.
In the meantime, another little-known Eastern Pequot group joined the fight, claiming it, not the two North Stonington tribes, deserved recognition.
The Wiquapaug Eastern Pequots, a Rhode Island band claiming 100 members, filed a report with the BIA March 20 disputing the lineage of the Lantern Hill tribes, which claim nearly 2,000 members between them.
The Wiquapaugs claimed their ancestors were forced off the Lantern Hill reservation about 200 years ago by alleged non-Indian interlopers.
Mary Sebastian, chairwoman of the Eastern Pequots, responded tersely. “We will address their claims as we will all properly filed comments by interested parties during the response period.”
The Paucatuck Eastern Pequots did not have a response by press time.
Another report spelled out the high economic stakes behind federal recognition. David A. Rosow, a developer of golf courses and ski resorts who is economic adviser to the Eastern Pequots, confirmed to the New London Day editorial board that a 60-acre pier in the city’s scenic port was high on the list for a potential casino.
He said 15 sites were under serious study as casino sites, should the Eastern Pequots win final recognition and negotiate a gaming compact with the state.
Both Lantern Hill tribes stepped with vigor into the recognition end-game. Worried that the U.S. Justice Department might sell out their interests, both tribes asked to join the BIA as defendants in the Connecticut suit. Their court filings reveal anxiety that they were being cut out of the negotiations between Blumenthal and the federal government.
The suit charges the BIA “trampled” on the rights of North Stonington, Ledyard and Preston in granting the tribal petitions.
The Paucatuck Eastern Pequot tribe asked for a restraining order to keep Blumenthal and federal defendants “from engaging in settlement discussions” that might delay and even reverse its recognition. The tribe was told the talks were “off the record” and was not allowed to participate, the motion said.
The tribal lawyer said federal attorney Roger Martella, counsel for the BIA and Interior, acknowledged that Blumenthal and the towns had proposed vacating the recognition as part of a settlement offer. But Dan Schaeffer, a lawyer from Blumenthal’s office, refused to share details, saying it was “off the record,” the tribe’s brief stated.
“Make no mistake,” the tribe told Judge Alfred V. Covello, “the sole purpose of the Attorney General’s action is to deny that the Tribe exists, and use this action to hinder, delay and ultimately prevent the Tribe from obtaining federal recognition.”
Although the tribe’s motion hasn’t yet been granted, it apparently had an effect on settlement talks, a tribal spokesman said. Latest reports indicate discussions now center on setting a timetable to give Blumenthal and the towns documents they demand and allowing them a three-month extension on the comment period.
Tribal leaders warn that Blumenthal’s tactics could bring the already clogged recognition process to a halt if it spreads to other states.
“It is a precedent for any attorney general,” said Mark Sebastian, vice chairman of the Eastern Pequots. “The tribes have to be aware that he’s tried to contact attorneys general in other states.”
Reacting strongly to Blumenthal’s latest request, Eastern Pequot financial adviser David Rosow said, “This action shows that what the three towns and the attorney general want to do is delay, delay, delay. Despite their claim that they simply want time to review the documents, it is clear that their real goal is to prevent the tribe from being recognized for as long as possible.”
Both tribes, branches of the historic Eastern Pequot Nation, moved strongly to defend themselves in the last month. The Paucatuck Eastern Pequots filed to intervene in the federal lawsuit at the end of February. Their lawyer, Eric Eberhard of Dorsey & Whitney, called the suit “an apparent and outright attack on the tribe and its right to seek federal recognition.
“They’re clearly using taxpayer resources and substantial amounts of taxpayer dollars to prevent the tribe from seeking its right under federal law.”
The Eastern Pequots made a similar motion just days later. Its attorney, Robert Tobin of New London, said, “The clear underlying intent of this lawsuit is to wipe out the tribe’s efforts of the last 23 years and force them to endure another indefinite, unjustified delay in obtaining the federal recognition and ensuing benefits their members deserve.”
“These delays simply are not fair or justified,” added Tribal Council Vice Chairman Mark Sebastian, “especially when neither the towns nor the attorney general have presented any substantive facts to oppose us.”
The suit repeats Blumenthal’s charges that recognition of the Pequot tribes was “tainted” by an alleged conflict of interest on the part of Gover. As a private attorney in the mid-’90s, Gover represented another Connecticut tribe, the Golden Hill Paugussetts, in a still pending quest for federal status.
The bulk of the suit, however, deals with the interaction of the towns of Ledyard, North Stonington and Preston with the staff of the BIA’s Bureau of Acknowledgement and Research (BAR).
The suit charges the towns were denied “meaningful participation in the recognition process.” It charges they were denied all the technical assistance requested from the BIA.
The BAR staff disregarded five of their reports about the Pequots’ petitions because Gover had arbitrarily changed a cut-off date for evidence. And the BAR failed to answer all of their Freedom of Information Act requests.
In an ironic turn-around, however, the town of North Stonington is being sued by Sebastian for refusing his own FOI request. Sebastian asked the town to release the names of consultants it has hired since 1997 to monitor the two tribes’ recognition petitions. He also asked for an accounting of the estimated $200,000 the town has spent fighting recognition.
The state Freedom of Information Commission postponed a scheduled hearing on the complaint until April 6.
The Eastern Pequots have also challenged Blumenthal’s own request for more funds to “monitor” recognitions. Blumenthal, a Democrat, is asking the state General Assembly to add $1.3 million to his budget to hire new attorneys and experts in genealogy, anthropology and history to review federal recognition claims.
At least 10 tribes in addition to the Pequots have filed petitions, and three of these are under serious review. Both Pequot tribes, the Schaghticokes, Golden Hill Paugussetts and Nipmuc have financial backing from investors interested in setting up tribal casinos.
In recent hearings on the funding request, Eastern Pequot council member Katherine Sebastian said that Blumenthal’s position conflicted “with the state’s longstanding recognition and support for the tribe.”
“This funding would delay or possibly prevent our tribe from obtaining badly needed benefits available to the Eastern Pequot Tribe and its members under various federal programs, including educational benefits, medical care, housing and governmental training.”
So far, Blumenthal’s request has received a cold reception from the state’s Republican governor, John Rowland. The two are considered potential opponents in a future election.