Schaghticokes Sue Opponents

Over Failed Recognition

By Stephen Singer Associated Press

HARTFORD — Connecticut’s Schaghticoke Tribal Nation sued a Washington lobbying firm and a Kent, Conn., group Monday, accusing them of unfairly winning a reversal of federal recognition of the Indian tribe.

The Schaghticokes accused the lobbying firm Barbour, Griffith and Rogers and its client, Town Action to Save Kent (TASK), of making “surreptitious and overt contacts” with officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Department of Interior. The lawsuit also names TASK president Kenneth Cooper.

Capping a 25-year bid, the tribe won recognition in January 2004. State officials appealed, arguing that the tribe had substantial gaps in evidence related to its social continuity and political governance.

An agency appeal panel overturned the BIA’s decision and the Interior Department upheld the reversal in October 2005.

In January, the Schaghticokes asked a federal court to overturn the Interior Department’s decision. That request is still pending.

The Schaghticokes filed the lawsuit in Superior Court of the District of Columbia, accusing the lobbyists and local opponents of violating federal law by providing secret arguments and evidence to the BIA.

“We believe Mr Cooper, his group TASK and his hired lobbyists served one purpose — to further the culture of corruption in Washington, D.C.,” tribal chief Richard Velky said at a news conference at the state Capitol on Monday.

The accusations are not new. The appeal filed in January said federal officials “violated their own regulations, disregarded prior precedent ... and allowed their decisions to be based on political influence.”

A spokesman for Barbour, Griffith and Rogers said he had not seen the lawsuit and would not comment.