Just as Gov. Janet Mills was putting her nascent senate campaign in drive this week she got broadsided from her liberal flank.
The left-wing Maine Center for Economic Justice just released a recommendation that the state give back to Native Americans several chunks of priceless public land.
The center’s suggestion is a tart, painful reminder to the would-be U.S. senator that she’s more than once gone out of her way to short-change one of her party’s potential key constituencies.
In what could be a close race next year between incumbent five-term U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and the Democrat governor, Native American votes could be key to tipping the race either way.
Of course the first thing Mills would have to do to get to Collins is get past her primary opponents, which could be even more difficult for her than a general race when it comes to assuaging tribal interests.
The reason is that in a Democrat primary the prevailing winds favor the most liberal ballots.
“Maine has profited from centuries of Wabanaki land loss,” the center said in Wednesday’s report. “Supporting land return and sovereignty reforms is both a moral responsibility and a smart economic investment.”
Center officials said 12.5 million acres of Wabanaki territory, valued at $105 billion in 1976, were claimed by Maine before rulings showed the claims were based on invalid treaties between 1820 and 1980.
“Maine extracted hundreds of millions in profits from tribal land seizures and sales, resource exploitation, tourism, and taxes – without compensating the Wabanaki nations,” they added.
The Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act in 1980 was specifically meant to resolve one of the biggest land disputes in U.S. history by treating the Wabanakis within the state’s boundaries as sovereign Indian tribes.
But the center said the land-claim settlement was basically a ruse and that the tribes have still failed to collect on their economic losses.
The Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Indians had claimed millions of 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.
Now the center is calling on Mills to return Acadia National Park, Baxter State Park, and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument to the tribes.
The two-term governor has a difficult relationship with Maine’s native tribes.
Mills two years ago vetoed a bipartisan bill allowing the tribes to benefit from the same federal laws other tribes enjoy.
She argued the bill would create legal uncertainty and lead to years-long litigation over environmental regulations and other matters.
Then, fewer than six months ago, Mills again alienated tribal members when she spiked a bill designed to protect tribal lands from “eminent domain.”
Not a good look for Mills – two double whammies and then Wednesday’s left hook that could help Collins put her on the canvas.
