Two seats on a state board that works to build state and tribal relations remain unfilled following an unusual clash between Gov. Janet Mills and members of the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission over two of the governor’s nominees.

Mills pulled the nominees this week after commission and tribal leaders objected to them as having agendas or a history of challenging tribal sovereignty efforts. Mills fired back, saying she is concerned about the objectivity of the commission. It’s not clear when, or if, she plans to submit new nominees.

The back-and-forth comes amid long-running tensions between the governor’s office and the tribal communities and their advocates.

An attorney for Mills and the co-chair of the legislative committee that held confirmation hearings on the nominees last week also highlighted the unusual nature of the exchange, saying boards and committees don’t usually weigh in on their potential members.

“I understand and respect some of the objections that have come from the tribes, the Penobscot Nation in particular, around this nomination,” Judiciary Committee Co-Chair Matt Moonen, D-Portland, said during the hearings.

“I find the letter from the commission, however, to be deeply disturbing on multiple levels. I think we’ve heard today that it’s pretty unprecedented for a commission to take a position on nominees for people who could be appointed and then confirmed to sit on that same commission.”

TRIBE RAISES CONCERNS

The Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission was created as part of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement of 1980, an agreement reached between the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Penobscot Nation, the state and the United States. Half of its members are appointed by the state and half by the tribes, and the chair is selected by the other 12 members.

It works to build tribal-state relations on issues such as fishing rules, tribal land acquisition, and fish and wildlife policies.

Prior to confirmation hearings last week, the commission sent the Judiciary Committee a letter expressing concerns about three state nominees: Lloyd Cuttler, Richard Bronson Jr. and Gordon Kramer. The letter said the commission had presented the governor’s office with names of people who “would have been appropriate” commissioners, but their suggestions were not accepted.

“The Governor’s Office stated they sought to appoint individuals without prior positions or agendas,” the letter said. “The current nominees do not meet that criteria.”

The commission cited news articles and testimony to the Legislature, including a Quoddy Tides article in which Cuttler was described as being concerned that a tribal sovereignty bill could result in municipalities losing jurisdiction over land-use regulations on tribal lands.

The Judiciary Committee voted to recommend Kramer’s appointment but tabled the other two after also hearing opposition from Maulian Bryant, tribal ambassador for the Penobscot Nation.

Bryant said the tribe is concerned that Cuttler has misrepresented the impacts of tribal sovereignty bills and wrongly questioned the tribe’s land conservation practices and protection of the environment.

She also brought up tensions between the town of Carrabassett Valley, where Cuttler is a selectman, and the tribe over tribal land in the town. Cuttler also talked about the tensions in his own testimony before the committee and said he sees a seat on the commission as a good opportunity to improve the relationship between the two parties.

But Bryant said that would not be productive. “MITSC is not the appropriate place to bring this grievance when you have someone from the aggrieved place trying to take a role in this body,” she said. “The Penobscot Nation feels this is an agenda-driven appointment and we are not comfortable with this.”

Cuttler could not be reached Thursday.

Bryant said Bronson, the town manager in Lincoln, also has misrepresented tribal issues, citing an opinion piece he co-authored last year in the Bangor Daily News.

Bronson pushed back on that in an interview Thursday, saying he does not have a bias on tribal issues. “As I said to the committee when I testified, I would go in with an open mind,” he said.

GOVERNOR WITHDRAWS NOMINEES

Jerry Reid, legal counsel for Mills, told the committee last week that all three nominees have a demonstrated interest in tribal-state issues and that the governor believes they would approach them with an open mind. In contrast, Reid said the nominees suggested by the commission were outspoken tribal advocates.

“Their views on the issues were likely to, we felt, not have differed in any way from the tribal representatives,” Reid said. “We didn’t think that was a productive contribution to the commission. We think in order for this commission to be effective it needs to not only tolerate, but welcome and embrace different points of view.”

In letters to the House speaker and Senate president withdrawing the nominations for Cuttler and Bronson, Mills said it was inappropriate and unprecedented for the commission to weigh in on the nominations. “A commission – any commission – weighing in on nominees poisons its neutrality and fundamentally undermines its ability to effectively do its job, fostering an inhospitable environment and creating a chilling effect among its members,” she wrote.

The commission didn’t vote to approve the letter to the Judiciary Committee. It was signed only by its chair and executive director.

At least one member said he doesn’t support the commission weighing in on appointments.

“In terms of the idea of having the commission itself offer an objection to any nominee, whether it be a tribal nominee or a state nominee, I found that to be a dramatic departure from the practice of not just this particular commission but boards and commissions in general,” said Richard Rosen, whose opposition was noted in a footnote in the letter.

TENSIONS BETWEEN MILLS AND TRIBES

The conflict over the board comes amid long-running tensions between Mills and Maine’s tribal leaders and advocates.

After Mills’ veto of a bill last session to grant tribes more access to federal laws, Penobscot Chief Kirk Francis called Mills “out of touch” and said “her hard-line stance in opposition to the tribes is something of a bygone era.”

The governor also was opposed to a sweeping bill to restore tribal sovereignty that House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, introduced this session. A compromise between Mills and the tribes narrowed the focus of the bill, L.D. 2007, limiting it to an expansion of the authority of tribal courts to prosecute crimes.

In the latest conflict, Mills focused her criticism on the commission leaders and not tribal representatives.

The governor said she was disturbed by the letter seeming to imply that anyone who has expressed concerns about a tribal position is not fit to serve on the commission. “Expressing a countervailing view does not make a person unqualified to serve on the MITSC, an entity whose purpose is to have conversations about disagreements and to find common ground,” Mills wrote.

Mills described Cuttler and Bronson as “people of great integrity with extensive experience serving as appointed officials in communities that border tribal lands.” She said she decided to withdraw their nominations because of the way the commission acted. It’s unclear where the effort to fill the seats now stands. A spokesperson for the governor would not directly say whether she will bring forward new nominees.

“The actions of the commission raise serious concerns about its ability to effectively function and underscore why many of the state-appointed commissioners have opted to resign rather than serve,” the governor’s office said in a prepared statement. “Unfortunately, we are concerned the commission’s actions likely will only make it more difficult to find and nominate qualified candidates to represent the state’s interests, though we hope that is not the case.”

Cuttler did not respond to a message left at the Carrabassett Valley town office Thursday seeking his reaction to the governor’s withdrawal of the nomination. Bronson, meanwhile, said he supports her decision. “I think it’s a logical and sensible thing to do given the way the commission behaved,” he said.

Commission Chair Newell Lewey said Thursday that he and Executive Director Jill Tompkins felt compelled to send a letter to the committee because of concerns they had heard from tribal leaders and because of the nominees’ roles working for municipalities, which he said could result in a conflict of interest. They weren’t seeking to stop the confirmations, he said, but were asking for a delay in approving them.

Lewey said he is preparing a response to the governor’s criticisms and hoping to talk to her.

“I want to work with her collaboratively,” he said. “I want to work with the state collaboratively. I want the commission to be collaborative. I want it to be a place where we can talk about issues.”

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