If you’re a ”New American” then Maine’s Democrat governor loves you.
But if you’re Native American, don’t count on Janet, who equates Native American with chopped liver.
The all-about-immigrant-protections chief executive of a state with a rich tribal history simply doesn’t give a rat’s ass whether you came to Maine long before the white-as-white-can-be Mills Clan set up its political shop in Farmington.
Mills this week vetoed a bill designed to protect tribal lands from “eminent domain,” a fancy term for entitled white elites making land grabs at the peril of Native Americans.
The veto is apparently going down without so much as a whisper from the Mills Press Herald, which saluted publisher Janet thusly:
“Mills said state law already has restrictions on seizing tribal land through eminent domain, including a provision that requires substitute land be provided so tribes don’t experience a loss. She warned that if the law was later determined to be flawed lawmakers would not be able to amend it without the approval of the four tribal nations.
“‘The Legislature should know that this bill would permanently deny the state the ability to take even small portions of Tribal Lands abutting public rights of way for uses like road and bridge projects no matter what circumstance may arise many years into the future,’” Mills said.
Just like that.
So how about how Janet going to the end of the earth trying to provide every Maine taxpayer-funded benefit to “New Americans” while stiff-arming Native Americans?
Please excuse me. Didn’t mean to ruin Thanksgiving 2025.
Janet has a troubled history with Maine’s original settlers but oh-my how she loves you if you just showed up with a green card.
Or more to the point without one.
Janet is apparently still miffed that her Democrat friends helped usher in the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act in 1980 (think President Jimmy Carter) to resolve one of the biggest land disputes in U.S. history.
During the time from the separation of Maine from Massachusetts in 1820 until the 1970s the federal government and Maine refused to treat the Wabanaki Tribes within the state’s boundaries as sovereign Indian tribes.
The Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Indians had claimed 12.5 million acres in the easternmost part of the state, saying the land was taken in violation of a 1790 Nonintercourse Act, a federal law prohibiting land deals with Indians unless ratified by Congress.
Sovereignty for Native Americans was still sticking in Janet’s claw, sorry, craw, when two years ago she vetoed a bipartisan bill allowing Maine tribes to benefit from the same federal laws other tribes enjoy.
Janet argued the bill would create legal uncertainty and lead to years-long litigation over environmental regulations and other matters.
Ring a bell?
Janet’s palms must have been itching just a year later when her office issued a statement going to every length possible to point out just how much she has done for Maine’s Native Americans.
In reality she’s done far more for Maine’s new wave of tourists (“New Americans”) than for the state’s tribal natives.
The governor’s Office of New Americans, she’s proud to boast, is “making Maine a home of opportunity for all.”
Except for the original indigenous settlers who first came here only 12,000 years ago.
