Nez Perce Say Chenoweth Mixed Up About Treaty Rights Lawmaker Says Sovereignty Status Causes Confusion

U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth does not understand the treaties between the federal government and Indians, the Nez Perce Tribal executive committee chairman charges.

“The Nez Perce people deal with misperceptions on many levels, but we shouldn’t have to deal with them on the level of United States representative,” Samuel Penney said Wednesday.

Idaho’s Republican congresswoman countered the federal policies regarding the tribes need to be clarified because they create confusion.

“Are they a separate nation or aren’t they,” Chenoweth asked. “I don’t purport to be doing anything other than raising questions that need to be answered, so we can have a peaceful and tranquil co-existence in respecting one another’s rights and one another’s property rights.”

Penney seized on Chenoweth’s opposition to a Bonneville Power Administration deal to compensate Idaho and the tribe for wildlife losses caused by Dworshak Reservoir.

The agreement has been signed by all parties. Backed by Gov. Phil Batt, it establishes a $7.1 million trust fund for the Nez Perce and a separate $3 million pool for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Bonneville also will transfer title of 60,000 acres on Craig Mountain and 130 acres of old-growth timber rights on Buck Creek to Fish and Game.

Chenoweth, who previously cited private property rights and local economic impacts as her chief concerns, on Monday questioned what role the Nez Perce should play when it comes to water rights compensation.

“Every United States Representative is sworn to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, which includes Article VI, the Supremacy Clause, which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land,” Penney said in a prepared statement.

But Chenoweth “mischaracterizes situations for which she has no personal knowledge and for which she makes no effort to call to obtain background information from tribal representatives.”

He said Idaho’s tribes have a major role to play in the Snake River Basin Adjudication, to quantify the water rights in the huge drainage. Penney added water rights should not be confused with the Bonneville deal.

Chenoweth insisted she is not mixing apples with oranges.

“While we have limited the rights of the white person to hunt and fish, we have not treated all of our American citizens equally,” Chenoweth said. “Or the question is are we giving another nation greater access to our resources than our citizens?”

She contended the tribes have had it both ways by denying the federal government its ability to enforce laws on the reservations, while not paying sales taxes on cigarettes that they sell.

“Some day we are going to have to come to grips with this situation that is creating some confusion,” she said.