Nation agent | Wayne Mitchell, the Penobscot Indian Nation's new legislative representative, on gambling, learning from bad business and tense times with the governor
In mid September, the Penobscot Indian Nation elected a new tribal representative to the Maine Legislature. Wayne Mitchell, a resident of Indian Island with years of experience in tribal government, defeated incumbent Donna Loring in a vote of 233 to 194.
Mitchell, who was scheduled as this issue of Mainebiz went to press to begin his two-year term Oct. 1, has sat on the tribal council for four years and was one of the original members of the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission, which was created in 1980 as a result of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act. Mitchell currently sits on the board of Penobscot Indian Nation Enterprise, a federally chartered economic development corporation on Indian Island.
The Penobscot Indian Nation has a history of economic development mishaps and this year shocked government officials when the tribe declared it intends to operate independently of Maine after its latest bid for permission to operate slot machines on tribal land failed. Mitchell says his goal as tribal representative to the state Legislature will be to find a successful niche for the nation in Maine’s economy that comes without the political wrangling that has occurred in the past. “Whether the state likes it or not, we’ve been here over 10,000 years and we’ll be here quite a bit longer,” Mitchell says. “It would be nice if the state and tribe could come together and develop a solid economic foundation for the tribe.”
Mainebiz sat down with Mitchell to talk about the nation’s rocky relationship with the state and his vision for economic development on Indian Island. An edited transcript follows.
Mainebiz: In April, Kirk Francis, chief of the Penobscot Indian Nation, said the nation would sever ties with the state and withdraw its representative from Augusta after Gov. John Baldacci vetoed the nation’s most recent attempt to get slot machines on Indian Island. What is the current relationship between the Penobscot Indian Nation and the state?
Mitchell: Dismal, to say the least. The state’s been in existence since 1820 and here we are in 2008 and we’re still not understanding each other. There was a paternal relationship with the state with regards to the tribes through the years before the [Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980] and unfortunately, that mentality still prevails. I think because of that, we’re at loggerheads with the state. There are so many positive things that could benefit the state and the tribes by cooperating rather than litigating all the time. In this ongoing relationship those positives are overlooked continuously for the sake of positioning or whatever.
So has the Penobscot Indian Nation severed ties with the state?
No. If that happens, it’ll be a transitional period. There are, I would imagine, a lot of things that would have to take place before that would happen. I think if the state would agree to understand our sovereignty, and our need to self-govern, I think a lot of these problems would go away. The state could benefit immensely by the unique legal status that the tribe holds in terms of federal dollars and economic development opportunity. That’s not even considered, or hasn’t been greatly debated at this point, unfortunately.
Are the sovereignty issue and the desire to self-govern the major sticking points here?
Well, there have been slaps in the face. The present administration, for example, when they took office, promised to work with the tribes to develop solid economic development opportunities for the tribes. [Gov. John Baldacci] knew we wanted to get into the gaming on a more intense level than high stakes bingo and was somewhat supportive of that idea, but did a complete 180 on the night of the inaugural. While the chief was sitting right behind him, Baldacci said he was totally against gaming and gambling of any kind. However, he has since signed the state into the Powerball, added three or four regular nightly lottery games and added several new scratch-off tickets for the state lottery. We couldn’t understand that slap in the face. That was just too much. And I think that’s what’s precipitated the ongoing frustration of the tribes with the state. And now Bangor, Baldacci’s home town, has a casino — slot machines, [off-track betting] and the whole nine yards. The only thing they don’t have are baccarat tables and blackjack and poker tables. But those will come — I’m sure they will. So that was another slap in the face, because it’s all right for the state to do it, but not all right for the tribes to do it.
But it is the statewide voters who vote on these proposals, right?
It didn’t have to go that route. The tribe and state could have agreed. There are provisions in the Settlement Act that allows the tribe and the state to negotiate these types of agreements. It doesn’t have to go to general referendum.
Agreements such as having slot machines on Indian Island?
Right. We shouldn’t have to go to referendum for that. That’s within our tribal territory. If the state has gambling on the level they do, and Bangor has gambling on the level it does, then what is so wrong with the tribes being able to participate in the same kind of revenue generating business? It smacks of economic racism. There’s no parity. That’s one of the biggest problems the tribes have in dealing with the state.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Oxford casino goes.
As the tribal representative to the state Legislature, what is your job?
Historically, the tribes had representatives that were sent to Boston during colonial times and spoke to the governor when Maine was part of Massachusetts, and that’s how we started this. We were never seated in the Legislature until, I think it was in 1972, or shortly before that. The tribes at the time would have to request sponsorship for bills. We can sponsor bills now, we are seated on the floor and we receive the same benefits as regularly elected legislators, and we are allowed to sit in on committees. We don’t have a vote, but our position is noted.
But if you don’t have a vote, how does the Penobscot Indian Nation influence the legislative process?
I think that the legislators, especially now with your term limits, depend heavily on the [tribal] representatives to inform them of issues regarding the tribes and the state. And I think they look to the tribal representatives to make sure that what they are doing is correct.
There is a history of failed economic development attempts by the Penobscot Indian Nation, from manufacturing audio tapes on Indian Island in the late 1980s just as CDs came along, to a plan in the 1970s to mass produce moccasins. More recently, there was the PIN Rx mail-order pharmacy that not only failed, but illegally filed prescriptions from Internet pharmacies. Why do you think the nation’s economic development ideas have failed more often than succeeded?
I think it’s because in some instances — like the failed moccasin production and the market position of the cassette industry at the time we got into — it was poor management. We had hired poor managers. And, unfortunately, we did not have in place a set of qualified tribal people who could properly oversee the operation of these businesses. Although we did have tribal members involved in the day-to-day activities of those enterprises, they were not directly involved in the decision-making. The people that were doing the managing and were making managerial decisions were non-native people and, unfortunately for us, poor decisions were made. But it has not stopped us from trying to find some type of economic development that is sustainable for us. The PIN Rx debacle, part of that was precipitated by the state not fulfilling its part of the bargain by guaranteeing to us at least half of all the Medicare prescriptions that were being filled throughout the state. The other part of that was the managing pharmacist — the director of the business — was a crook. We had the fox guarding the henhouse. That’s what the problem was.
What needs to happen for successful economic development?
We have got to be able to understand who the carpetbaggers are and be able to identify them easily. I think we’re getting adept at that. Once bitten, twice shy, as they say. We are involved now, through our PINE corporation — Penobscot Indian Nation Enterprise — which is a 17c federally charted corporation, with several economic development components right now going on and I’m not at liberty to discuss those because of confidently agreements and [memoranda of understanding] and that sort of thing. These things that we are working on are going to be a tremendous asset to the tribe once all the wrinkles are ironed out of it. But we are moving very slowly, very deliberately, very cautiously and doing due diligence appropriately.
You have a two-year term ahead of you. Have you set any specific goals for yourself?
Well the first thing I need to do is open up some communication. I have been invited to speak to the governor. He has called me and congratulated me on my election and I have agreed to talk with him. It’s going to be quite a blunt conversation though, I think, from my people’s perspective. And I’m not sure what we are going to discuss. That will be up to him.
What are you going to tell him?
The concerns my people have. And that is that no matter how hard we try, it’s OK for the state to do it, but it’s not OK for us. And we perceive that as economic racism. That’s basically it. That’s what the problem has been.
Do you have other goals for your time in office?
I would like to see some changes to the Settlement Act and that takes both the tribe and the state cooperatively to make that happen. This past year, under executive order, Baldacci did create a task force to study the implementing act to make recommendations on changing it. The recommendations were accepted, a bill was presented to the Legislature — it was LD 2221, I believe — and by the time it got through judiciary and was voted on in the House and signed by Baldacci, it was completely different from what the task force had recommended. And before any Legislature can be applicable to the tribes, the tribes must accept it. And they rejected it outright because what it did was take away more sovereignty. The implementing document is not a document to be cast in stone. It was a document that was meant to be flexible so that if there were issues between the state and the tribes that were unforeseeable at the time the document was implemented, then they would be able to sit down and negotiate.
Whit Richardson, Mainebiz staff writer, can be reached at wrichardson@mainebiz.biz.
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