Lawmaker Says Probe Is Flawed Investigation Focuses On Hunting Rights Of Non-Indians

State Rep. Bob Sump charged the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Tuesday with a conflict of interest in its investigation of his claim that state officials illegally took away hunting rights from non-Indians who own property on the Colville Indian Reservation.

Sump told U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno that Bruce Didesch, the attorney reviewing Sump’s complaint, has an “obvious conflict of interest” because he worked for the tribal government for 15 years.

Just as he contends state officials have refused to address his concerns, Sump, R-Republic, said U.S. Attorney Jim Connelly’s decision to assign the case to Didesch shows federal officials also “do not want to deal with this issue.”

But, Sump said, “if they think that, by turning over the investigation to a hand-picked advocate for the Colville tribes, they can put a lid on this mess, then they are very, very wrong. I am going to get to the bottom of this and expose it so that the people of Washington state will know just what sort of deals have been made to deny civil rights to honest citizens.”

Connelly said he sees no conflict of interest and will not remove Didesch from the investigation.

“He did work for the tribe, but he did not do any work that in any way relates to the matter that Rep. Sump is talking about,” Connelly said.

Sump argues that state officials violated federal civil rights laws when they declared a game shortage in 1982 to justify hunting restrictions that settled a jurisdictional lawsuit the Colville tribes filed against the state. State Game Commission members who were involved in that decision have since stated that there was no game shortage at the time, Sump says.

State, county and tribal governments all claim jurisdiction over non-Indian property owners within Indian reservations, and the U.S. Supreme Court so far hasn’t provided a clear answer.

The state hunting and fishing agreement with the tribal government was revised last year to increase recreational privileges for non-Indian cabin owners on the reservation as well as non-Indian sportsmen from all over the state. But it does so at the expense of big-game hunting rights of non-Indian residents of the reservation.

At a public hearing last August in Okanogan, Wash., state officials made no claim of a continuing game shortage. Jeff Tayer, regional director of the state Fish and Wildlife Department, said the new agreement was simply the best deal state officials could cut with tribal leaders.

Tribal attorney Alan Stay said refusal to accept the new compromise might result in loss of swimming, boating and fishing privileges on the reservation for all non-Indians.

“If this agreement does not go forward, the Colville tribes will move to shut the reservation down” to recreational use by non-Indians, tribal Fish and Wildlife director Joe Peone said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.