Leader of Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe faces recall election

Monday, May 27, 2019  

Chairman Cedric Cromwell of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is facing yet another challenge to his leadership during a crucial period for his people.

The tribe's election committee certified a recall petition against Cromwell, The Cape Cod Times reported. An election will be scheduled in the coming days, as critics -- including some on the council -- continue to raise questions about his handling of the tribe's finances, the paper said.

"We need to uplift our tribe not tear it down, we need to have constructive conversations based on facts not speculation, and we need to realize we are all working toward bettering our world for future generations," Cromwell said in his May 2019 chairman's column.

Cromwell survived a "no confidence" vote on the council earlier this year just as the tribe was asking the 116th Congress to protect its homelands in Massachusetts from being taken out of trust by the Trump administration. H.R.312, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act, passed the U.S. House of Representatives on May 15 but Republicans who would have otherwise supported the bill revolted after President Donald Trump told them to vote against it.

“Let’s roll back the tape 400 years,” Cromwell told The Boston Globe in reference to Trump's tweet about the legislation.. “It’s very inhumane, and it’s unjust. But we have to stay focused.”

H.R.312 can now be considered in the U.S. Senate but it's not clear whether the Republican leaders of the chamber will bring it up for passage due to opposition within the party.

The bill confirms that the tribe's reservation in Massachusetts is in trust. It also requires any litigation which challenges the status of the land to be dismissed.

In 2014, Congress did the same for another tribe whose homelands were being litigated. The U.S. Supreme Court later sanctioned the approach as constitutional in a decision known as Patchak v. Zinke, which was issued during Trump's second year in office.

In addition to approving H.R.312, the House passed H.R.375 on May 15. The bill ensure that all tribes, regardless of the date of federal recognition, can restore their homelands through the land-into-trust process.

The bill is known as a "fix" to a Supreme Court decision known as Carcieri v. Salazar. The ruling, issued a decade ago, cast doubt on the ability of the federal government to acquire lands in trust for recently recognized tribes, like Mashpee.

Effort to recall tribal chairman moves ahead (The Cape Cod Times May 26, 2019)
Wampanoag tribe fights latest in long history of ills (The Boston Globe May 26, 2019)