AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills and the leaders of Maine tribes have been on bad terms since the Democrat vetoed this summer a bill granting tribes access to more federal benefits, but they may come together for talks in November.
After a difficult year for state-tribal relations, the Democratic governor wants to meet next month with the five chiefs of Maine’s four federally recognized tribes to discuss issues and next steps, according to a letter to chiefs shared Monday by her office inviting them to the Blaine House on Nov. 17 for an inaugural “Tribal-State Summit.”
The Bangor Daily News reached out to the governor’s office after a Wabanaki Alliance official at Monday’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day rally mentioned an upcoming meeting with Mills. The governor has not yet received a response to her invitation, spokesperson Scott Ogden said. Calls and email to tribal chiefs were not returned on Monday.
It signals the opportunity for some detente in a difficult relationship. Tribal officials and backers rallied Monday in support of Question 6 on the November ballot, which would restore Maine’s tribal treaty obligations to printed versions of the state Constitution. Mills vociferously opposed it earlier this year before vetoing tribes’ signature sovereignty bill.
The chiefs are aware of the letter, said John Dieffenbacher-Krall, the executive director of the Wabanaki Alliance, an advocacy group for the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Mi’kmaq tribes. Given that the letter was addressed only to the chiefs, he said the Wabanaki Alliance did not have any comment on it.
Mills told the chiefs she would circulate a proposed agenda for the Nov. 17 summit that would last three hours and would “welcome any ideas for topics you would like to share.”
“I know that there are issues we have disagreements about, but we also have a proven track record of success,” Mills wrote, touting progress the two sides made since she took office in 2019.
That has included compromises on issues such as water quality standards, mobile sports betting and banning Native American mascots in schools. She also mentioned how she signed bills to expand tribal court jurisdiction and to enshrine the federal Indian Child Welfare Act in state law.
“I welcome the opportunity to hear from you about your most pressing concerns and challenges, and about how we can join forces to address them collaboratively to make positive change in the lives of our people,” Mills told the chiefs.
It is likely the chiefs and governor will discuss the ongoing push for tribal sovereignty and how Mills has continued to oppose legislation aimed at allowing Maine’s tribes to access additional federal benefits they are currently shut out from receiving under a landmark 1980 settlement.
This year’s bill from House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, had bipartisan support, but lawmakers did not reach a needed two-thirds majority in July to override Mills’ veto of the measure. Talbot Ross and allies have signaled they will try again to pass a similar bill in 2024.
The bill sought to amend the $81.5 million settlement between the state, tribes and Congress in 1980 that saw tribes relinquish a claim for two-thirds of Maine’s land and become effectively regulated like cities and towns.
Pointing to a Harvard University study finding Maine tribes have lagged economically behind others in the decades since President Jimmy Carter signed the agreement, Wabanaki Alliance leaders have argued the bill would allow them to benefit from all 151 federal laws passed since 1980 and any measures in the future.
But Mills, a former attorney general, argued that only a few federal statutes — particularly ones covering health care and disaster assistance — do not currently apply to Maine tribes and that “imprecise language” in the Talbot Ross bill could lead to decades of litigation.
The chiefs responded over the summer by arguing the governor was really trying to maintain the status quo and noted the proposed legislation was one of 22 recommendations from a state task force on tribal sovereignty.
“Waiting a few more years for a new governor is what we will do if we must,” Penobscot Nation Ambassador Maulian Bryant said in July. “We were here long before Gov. Mills, and we will be here long after she leaves office.”
