1989 pact keeps state and tribes talking

Uncertainty gripped Denny Hurtado as he arrived at Seattle’s Burke Museum on Aug. 4, 1989.

The chairman of the Skokomish Tribe and two dozen other tribal leaders had come to sign a pact with Washington Gov. Booth Gardner pledging they would all talk more and try to get along better.

This past Tuesday, Hurtado stood on the stage of the Squaxin Island Tribe’s Little Creek Events Center to say that 1,200-word agreement, known as the Centennial Accord, is working out better than he imagined.

“I had my fingers crossed when I signed that document, thinking about the treaties that weren’t acknowledged or respected,” he told the annual meeting of American Indian leaders and state officials prescribed by the agreement.

“We were very adversarial with the state at that time. We really didn’t trust the state, and sometimes we still don’t trust the state, to be honest,” he said. “But we started this relationship. Once relationships are formed, trust happens.”

Trust breeds respect, which is why relations between the government of Washington and those of the sovereign tribes may be their best since statehood.

The Centennial Accord created a structure in which the state and tribal governments exchange information, discuss grievances and deal with challenges of authority. One of the keys is that it seeks to ensure tribes are consulted.

“We envisioned something big,” said Dick Thompson, Gardner’s chief of staff when the agreement’s initial outlines were drawn up. “We’d taken a century screwing things up. I thought, let’s not take a century getting it right.”

There are and will always be conflicts. State and tribal governments, like siblings, are constantly quibbling and irritating each other.

You could sense tension at times in Tuesday’s six-hour session. Unlike a generation ago, those in the room seemed content to discuss persisting disputes around a table and not debate them through lawyers in a courtroom.

The success of the Centennial Accord is integrally tied with the reigning chief executive.

No governor’s been better for tribal interests than Gov. Chris Gregoire, who, by the way, hasn’t missed any of the annual meetings.

In her tenure, gaming compacts have been negotiated, fuel and cigarette tax agreements reached, American Indian education curriculum for public schools written and cross-deputization of law enforcement approved. She’s been a backer of pro-tribe tax reforms, though without success.

She’s respected by tribal leaders because she’s respected them throughout her career. It helps that she had a hand in penning the agreement and recalled this week how it “dramatically reduced that contentiousness” between the state and tribal governments.

But that can change swiftly.

It’s why Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, wants to put key tenets of the Centennial Accord into law. His proposed legislation mandates that face-to-face meetings continue to be held each year, state agencies retain tribal liaisons and state workers receive training on American Indian culture.

“We’re not always going to have a friend like the governor,” he said.

Her successors and their appointees may not share her understanding of sovereignty, and it could lead to a watered-down dynamic of these government-to-government talks, he said.

Interestingly, on Tuesday, Henry Cagey, chairman of the Lummi Nation in Whatcom County, urged other Indian leaders to be cautious because sometimes a well-meaning law can be turned against them.

Better to get more lawmakers informed through the annual meetings than take a chance on putting the proposal through the legislative process.

McCoy already works each session to educate his new and returning colleagues. It’s a challenge.

“Not all of them know how to spell ‘Indian,’ much less understand sovereignty,” he said to those gathered Tuesday.

More of them do today than 20 years ago.

It’s why Hurtado can feel comfortable uncrossing his fingers.

Read political reporter Jerry Cornfield’s blog, The Petri Dish. Contact him at 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.