"Years of behind-the-scenes work came to partial fruition last week with U.S. Rep. Brian Baird's announcement that he has lined up congressional support for formally recognizing the Chinook Indian Tribe.

It defies belief that this profoundly significant tribe has long been consigned to the status of non-being by the manipulations and incompetence of Washington, D.C.'s corps of professional Indian managers. The glorious past of the Chinook people has brought nothing but ignoble treatment by the American bureaucracy.

A decades-long social, political and genealogical process finally brought the tribe to the very brink of recognition by the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the messy conclusion of the Clinton administration. Although the decision was right, the Byzantine way in which it was reached opened it to reversal by the newly arrived Bush administration.

Baird said then that he would pursue the matter in Congress, which along with BIA and top federal courts has the authority to enter into government-to-government relations with tribes. Always highly competent and usually on the correct side of issues, Baird deserves to be permanently honored for his persistence in stewarding this matter to what looks like a just conclusion."

Get the Story:
Editorial: It is time (The Daily Astorian 8/8)

Get the Bill:
Chinook Nation Restoration Act (H.R.6689)

Related Stories:
Vote not expected on Chinook recognition bill (8/6)
Bill introduced to recognize Chinook Nation (8/1)
McCaleb reverses Chinook decision (7/8)
Chinook recognition delayed (3/6)
Chinook recognition sent back to BIA (11/8)
Chinook recognition to be reconsidered (11/7)
Norton won't review Chinook recognition (3/20)
Chinook Nation eager to tell story (3/2)
Gover reverses Chinook decision (1/04)