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SEPTEMBER 20, 2000

Three Connecticut towns are once again complaining about Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, this time to the Department of Interior.

The leaders of Preston, Ledyard, and North Stonington wrote a letter to Secretary Bruce Babbitt and said Gover is biased against the towns. It is another one in a series of complaints they have made against Gover, who extended preliminary federal recognition to the Eastern Pequot and Paucatuck Eastern Pequot tribes in late March.

The towns oppose federal recognition of the two tribes. They also oppose Gover's involvement because they say he is trying to gain recognition for his former client, the Golden Hill Paugussetts Tribe of Connecticut.

In an interview with Indian Country Today last month, Gover criticized the towns, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, and author Jeff Benedict for their opinions about tribes in the state.

The Interior told the towns and the state Gover will not be recused from the decision making process of the two tribes, nor will the BIA stop recognizing tribes. However, Gover will have left the Bureau by the time a final determination is made on the tribes.

Get the Story:
Three towns claim BIA's Gover biased (The New London Day 9/20)

Related Stories:
BIA won't stop recognizing tribes (Tribal Law 9/19)
Decisions put Gover in the middle (Tribal Law 08/16)
Gover gets personal (Tribal Law 08/16)