"It's been more than a year since the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission has met. Without participation from the tribes, long-vacant seats and the resignation next month of its chairman, the commission is defunct. It is not too late to revive it.

Gov. John Baldacci can do so by appointing a cabinet-level official, especially one with economic development or environmental expertise since these are the tribes' primary areas of concern, to the panel. The tribes, angered last fall by voters' rejection of their plans to build a casino in southern Maine and the governor's role in the election, must then return to the table.

Frustrated as they are that disputes over tribal sovereignty have not been resolved, or when they have, not in their favor, members of the Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe left the commission last November. Since then, there have been no MITSC meetings, the executive director has resigned and its chairman plans to leave in December."

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Editorial: Missing MITSC (The Bangor News 11/22)