NYS Legislature again passes bill to restore Montauketts' state recognition

After unanimous passage in the state Assembly last week, the State Senate on Thursday once again approved a bill to restore state recognition to the Montaukett I ndian Nation. 

P assage in the Senate marked the sixth time the bill has passed by wide margins in the State Legislature. Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo vetoed it three times. Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed it twice.

Whether Hochul will sign this measure remains an open question. A Hochul spokesman said Thursday she will “review any legislation that passes both houses of the legislature.”

Hochul's team had been meeting with tribal members since early spring seeking to assure the tribe has met the requirements for recognition. The spokesman declined to comment on those meetings. 

Hochul last year not only vetoed the Montaukett recognition bill, but also cited a widely denounced 1910 state Supreme Court ruling in doing so, antagonizing not only tribal members but state legislators, one of whom called her statement “outrageous.” 

Her veto message cited a ruling by then-Supreme Court Judge Abel Blackmar who not only declined to restore land rights to Montaukett tribal members in a decision that favored developer Arthur Benson, but also declared the tribe was dispersed and “disintegrated.” Newsday in 1998 reported the process by which developers took those lands was rife with “deceit, lies and possibly forgery.” 

East End lawmakers have continued to push the legislation.

“The Montauketts have gone to great lengths to satisfy the state’s requirements for recognition, and I am hopeful that the governor will finally sign this legislation into law and reinstate the nation's status that they should have never lost,” said State Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk), the bill's Senate sponsor.

He noted the Montauketts were recognized for “years prior to the 1910 Pharaoh case, and the enactment of this legislation will correct generations of injustice and provide the Montaukett Indian Nation with the status they deserve.”

Assemb. Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor), who is serving his final months in office, has worked for years to gain passage of the measure. 

“We are again on the threshold of restoring state recognition to the Montaukett Indians, which was wrongfully removed from them more than a century ago in one of the most racist court decisions in the history of New York jurisprudence,” Thiele said. “It is now time for Gov. Hochul to sign the legislation correcting this historic injustice. It is never too late to do the right thing.” 

Following Hochul's November veto, Thiele criticized her citing of the Blackmar decision. “For the governor to cite that decision as a basis for a veto is outrageous,” he said. “I am ashamed of our state government.”

Sandi Brewster-walker, executive director for the Montaukett nation, praised Palumbo and Thiele for their “hard work and commitment” in advancing the bill this year and in the past. “Hopefully in our 114th year” since the Blackmar decision, “this will be our last year of doing this,” she said.

Since Hochul's veto, the state has been in contact with Montaukett leadership, which provided additional documentation to justify their case. The tribe has some 1,200 members, including 500 on Long Island, Newsday reported.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.