Utah tribes say Gov. Gary Herbert (R) isn't being honest about the firing of Forrest Cuch, the longtime director of the Division of Indian Affairs.

Tribal leaders met with Herbert for a private lunch yesterday. But they said he still hasn't given them a reasonable explanation for Cuch's abrupt termination late last month.

“I got the feeling he was talking down to us,” Richards Jenks Jr., the chairman of the Ute Tribe, told The Salt Lake Tribune.

“I no longer support Gov. Herbert. If he continues to think he can treat us like that, he will, and so will others,” Madeleine Greymountain of the Goshute Tribe told the paper. “He could have done it honorably, and he didn’t.”

After meeting Herbert, the Utah Tribal Leaders Council drafted a resolution that called on the governor to apologize to Cuch and to the tribes. They said Cuch's firing "demonstrates a manifest disregard and disrespect for the inherent sovereign authority of Native American tribes.”

A spokesperson for Herbert claimed the tribes seemed happy with the meeting and described the resolution as "a complete 180 degrees," The Deseret News reported.

Get the Story:
Tribes want governor to apologize for firing Indian Affairs director (The Deseret News 3/24)
Tribes seek Herbert apology for sacking Cuch (The Salt Lake Tribune 3/24)

Related Stories:
Utah tribes upset with governor's firing of Indian Affairs director (3/1)