The Lost Tribe?

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Wilmot and Quiet Hawk's Paugussetts also have friends in high places in the tightly knit world of government-Indian relations. Kevin Gover, who counted Quiet Hawk's tribe among his clients when he practiced law, is Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs. Back in 1996, Gover had helped coordinate the Clinton-Gore campaign's outreach to Native Americans. During the campaign, Gover wrote memos urging the White House to pay special attention to supporters, noting that "the tribes have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the D.N.C. and Democratic campaigns." In 1997 President Clinton named Gover, a Pawnee Indian, to the Indian Affairs post. In June 1998 Gover was given the Quiet Hawk group's appeal of the agency's latest rejection of its petition. Gover recused himself and assigned the matter to his deputy, Michael Anderson, a political appointee, who ordered a full review of the petition.

"We were disappointed and surprised that the initial decision was, in effect, reversed," says Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut attorney general who opposed federal recognition of the tribe. But other Connecticut officials say that if Quiet Hawk's Paugussetts win federal recognition and then agree to drop their pending land claims, Connecticut would probably agree to give the tribe land for its casino and reservation.

Quiet Hawk believes his group's efforts to develop the Bridgeport waterfront should be welcomed by all. "This would help the city," he says. "It would help the state, the poor and the minorities." Including, of course, the chief and his followers.