Agreement calls for mediation in contract disputes
BRODIE FARQUHAR Star-Tribune correspondent | Posted: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 12:00 am
ETHETE - Social service programs for the Northern Arapaho Tribe will receive an $800,000 boost because of settlement of a long-standing dispute between the tribe and the state of Wyoming.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Northern Arapaho Business Council Chairman Richard Brannan signed a contract Tuesday morning which releases $800,000 to the tribe's Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program.
The contract had been hung up for two years over a disagreement between the tribe and the state over tribal sovereignty.
The contract was based on compromise contract language offered by Brannan to break the logjam over which court - federal, state or tribal - would resolve any disagreement arising from state/tribal contracts.
Brannan's language - based on an approach taken in Montana - sidesteps the contentious sovereignty issue by specifying mediation as the first step in conflict resolution between the two governments.
"We've had 200 years of confused jurisdiction (between states and tribes) which has led to a series of problems," the governor said. Problems between the state and tribes over sovereignty issues have made "a lot of money for lawyers," but have not resulted in problem resolution.
This new approach, according to both Freudenthal and Brannan, allows the state and Northern Arapaho to retain full sovereignty and deliver social services to people who are both Wyoming citizens and tribal members.
If a dispute arises, mediation will be tried first before either side resorts to lawyers. If that doesn't work, disputes will be submitted to "a court of competent jurisdiction."
Determining which court will be "up to the lawyers," the governor said.
In the past, the state has insisted on contract language that would give state courts jurisdiction over contract disputes between the state and Northern Arapaho. The tribe had previously countered that contract disputes be resolved by binding arbitration and that state courts simply enforce that arbitration.
State Rep. Patrick Goggles, D-Ethete, thanked both the chairman and the governor.
"I want to commend them for doing the right thing," he said, adding that it took political courage on the part of Freudenthal to come to the Wind River Indian Reservation and sign the contract.
Brannan thanked his fellow business council members for their support. He said the contract represented the start of a "new, positive partnership" between the state and the tribe.
Brannan said reservation residents face huge medical and social needs. He said Northern Arapaho members average one person a day diagnosed with diabetes, while methamphetamine abuse continues to be a "scourge" for the tribe.
Brannan thanked the governor and presented him with an American Indian-design wool blanket as a sign of friendship. Freudenthal admired the gift, then quipped that he didn't expect to see it much in the future, predicting that his wife, Nancy, would latch onto it.