"The Mohegan Tribe may be hundreds of years old, but it's very much in its infancy when it comes to running a modern government, with all kinds of public works, housing, education and entitlement programs.

All that has come with the fast-lane nation building that began after the successful opening of Mohegan Sun a little more than 10 years ago.

With the growth, and now also with a downturn in business, have come growing pains.

And some of those seem apparent in a case now in Mohegan Tribal Court in which a tribal member, William Bauer, is questioning the fairness of a “good standing” disciplinary action against him. He's accused of revealing on his Web site information the tribal government wants kept secret.

In fact, prosecutions like the one pending against him are contemplated as somewhat routine in a new Freedom of Information law passed recently by the Tribal Council that both provides access to government records but also make it an offense to reveal them.

This peek-a-boo FOI law has generated enough backlash among tribal members, in an election year, that a petition to bring it to referendum has passed, according to two Web sites run by tribal members, sites that appear to be direct targets of the new press-freedom crackdown."

Get the Story:
Editorial: When Growing Up Meets Secrecy (The New London Day 2/1)

Editorial: Open doors to Mohegan Tribe's court (1/29)
Column: Mohegan Tribe clamps down on the press (1/26)