20 NOVEMBER 15,2013
Smoke Signals
Congressman recalls
Restoration effort
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Sinnalt editor
Les AuCoin was Oregon's 1st
District Congressman be
tween 1975 and 1993, and
sponsored the Restoration
bills of both the Siletz and Grand
Ronde Tribes in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
After 1973's Restoration of the
Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin, the
Siletz and Grand Ronde restorations
occurred in 1977 and 1983, respective
ly. (The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua
Tribe of Indians was restored in De
cember 1982.)
AuCoin, who now lives in Bozeman,
Mont., was interviewed via telephone
on Sept. 10, 2008, about the Grand
Ronde Restoration effort. Below is an
excerpt of that interview.
Q: You were the congressman
during the restoration of the
Grand Ronde and Siletz Tribes.
Could you talk about the po
litical climate in Oregon in the
late 1970s, early '80s regarding
restoration of Tribes that were
terminated?
A: Hostile
Q. In what way?
A: The restoration proposals came
not too many years after the very
controversial Belloni and Boldt deci
sions. This allocated superior fishing
rights to the Columbia River Tribes.
Though the hostility of the nonlndian
community was not monolithic, there
was a substantial backlash against the
Tribes stemming from those decisions,
and it spilled over into the efforts that
I undertook along with Sen. (Mark)
Hatfield. In restoring the Tribal sta
tus of both the Siletz and the Grand
Ronde, I think that the argument went
something like this:
One, the Tribal members are
American and should be treated like
any other American and not have
"special rights";
Two, the argument was that
inherent in getting a reservation or
getting a restoration it might somehow
enhance their ability to assert suc
cessfully in court in ways that no one
could comprehend or know, but feared,
superior hunting and fishing rights.
Together those arguments had a lot
of influence, and it made it difficult
to do the right thing because those
arguments were so easy to demagogue.
Q. Elizabeth Furse said that you
actually spilled a lot of political
blood on the Siletz Restoration.
A: I did, I did. My first term I in
troduced the legislation, but it hadn't
moved yet and my political opponent
made exactly those arguments against
my proposals for the Siletz; mainly
that I was giving superior hunting
and fishing rights to the Tribe, even
though they didn't claim that they
wanted superior hunting and fishing
rights. I can remember billboards all
over the district put up by my op
ponent that said, "More Fish, Less
AuCoin." It got really nasty. I even
had mail from people that had been
lifelong friends and sportsmen that
were just outrageously opposed to the
Tribe's restoration. I just had to talk
to them. Anyone who reads Native
American history knows about the
wars ... the most god-awful thing to
happen to Native Americans was the
Les AuCoin
so-called mainstreaming policy that
took place in the 1950s and became yet
another of the tragedies that the U.S.
government inflicted on the American
Indians throughout their history.
Q. What ef
fect did your
experience
working on
the Siletz
Restoration
have when
the Grand
Ronde Tribe
approached
you about
its potential
Restoration?
A: Well, I did not know that much
about the Grand Ronde and my first
impression was that the Confederated
Tribes might be an organization of
convenience rather than a qualified
confederation. Therefore, I was prob
ably somewhat suspicious, but that
went away with a little bit of research.
The next thing that I said to myself,
and I will be honest about this, was,
"Oh, great. Now that I have been
beaten around like a pinata over the
Siletz, I get to do it again with the
Grand Ronde." However, that was
fleeting and all too human I am afraid.
My memory went back years earlier
when I took a Winnebago throughout
the streets and went to the smallest
of towns; it was a traveling office. We
had caseworkers and folks, and we
would stop at predetermined times
and people would be there to greet
and would have questions about Social
Security or any other problems they
would have with the government, and
talk to me and my staff.
I remembered going to this wide
spot in the road that they called Grand
Ronde and meeting people and look
ing at the abject poverty. When this
proposal came along, I saw it as an
opportunity to do something, to over
come that economically bleak picture
for the Grand Ronde people.
Q. What was the biggest legisla
tive hurdle from your perspective
regarding the Grand Ronde Res
toration? Was it Tribal members
eliciting community support?
A: Yes. The Tribe came to me and
Elizabeth (Furse) was consulting with
them at the time. I remember Kathryn
Harrison and others; I do not think
that Mark Mercier was with them
at that time. He became chair later.
I certainly remember Kathryn and
the delegation that came back with
Elizabeth. Moreover, they talked to
me about what they wanted to do.
They seemed to be unmindful of the
strenuous efforts that the Siletz had
gone through to get the statements of
community support, which were im
portant for Congress. It showed that
they had the support from a broader
community.
Therefore, I had to be fairly blunt
with them. I had to put on a pretty
stern countenance. I laid out very
clearly what they had to do. Church
groups, chambers of commerce, major
organizations . . . they had to do their
homework. They had to tell their story
locally. They had to gain political sup
port on the ground and then come
back. And once they did, I told them
that we could go forward. That is what
'r Y'r-v
Congressman Les AuCoin, right, presents Kathryn Harrison and Mark Mercier
with a copy of the Grand Ronde Reservation Act in 1988.
it took with Siletz and that is what it
took with other Tribal restorations
around the country. That is what it
would take in their case.
You may hear it from others, but
Kathryn, who is a dear friend, told
me she was rather shocked about my
little political tutorial. They did their
jobs fabulously well and they came
back with ... an incredible amount of
support that outdid the opposition.
Q. You said you were very blunt
with the Grand Ronde represen
tatives when they came to you
seeking Restoration. Are there
any memories or anecdotes that
stand out in your mind concern
ing their effort?
A: Their efforts astonished me.
They went to some of the most unlikely
places to get, and won, endorsements.
They had the support of Gordon
McPherson, former state representa
tive who was Republican minority
leader when I was in the state Legisla
ture as the Democratic House majority
leader. One of my arch-enemies on
the floor, we had a duel daily on the
floor. All of the sudden I see his name
up as an endorsee. I was thrilled. ...
They came back with the most fertile
list of church groups and mainstream
business groups. It was remarkable. It
was a more thorough job if anything
than even the Siletz had done and I
like to hope that it was due in part to
the blunt way that I put it to them,
because they sure kicked it into high
gear and they really delivered.
Q. How important was it for
them to have the Warm Springs
on their side as well as Sen. Mark
Hatfield?
A: Frankly, I do not think that the
Warm Springs mattered so much.
Having Hatfield supporting them was
important because I needed to know
... well the last thing I needed was to
fight the fight and get it over to the
Senate and have it opposed or have it
demagogued by the senior senator for
the state. It would have doomed it, but
the fact that it wasn't doomed on the
Senate side made it pretty clear to me
that if I could get it over there that it
would become a bill and then it would
become a law.
Q. Regarding your legislative
legacy as a congressman, two of
the early restorations that oc
curred nationally were in your
district. When you look back on
your congressional career, where
does that stand as far as accom
plishments? A: The warmest spot in my heart is
the memory of the economic difference
Restoration and the establishment of
reservations has done for the economic
and social well-being of a people who
were in dire need and had their lives
changed in a very fundamental way.
When I lost my race for the Senate in
1992 and, therefore, ended my career,
Mark Mercier, the Tribal chair of the
Grand Ronde, wrote me this letter that
just actually brought tears to my eyes.
He said, 'This morning I walked out
across our land. Land that would not
have been ours if it had not been for
you, and I think about how far we have
come and about how much further we
will go, and will come because you
believed in us. You took a chance and
showed some courage." He thanked me
and he said because of my efforts life
would never be the same again and
would be better for the Grand Ronde
people. It really brought tears to my
eyes it touched me so much.
It's not often that you can write a
piece of legislation and actually see
a community of people go from dirt
poverty to a place where they are get
ting good jobs. In many cases incomes
from the casino and that the Tribe
is earning so much money that they
are creating a foundation to help the
broader community around them. It is
phenomenal, and so I cannot compare
it to very many other things. I am
a congressman who got a lot done.
However, the difference that my legis
lation made for the Grand Ronde and
the Siletz is right up there with the
most significant achievements in my
memory book.
Q. For Tribal members, when
the 50th Restoration comes
around and they may read this,
what do you think they really
need to know about this Resto
ration on the part of the Grand
Ronde? What do you think that
they should never forget?
A: They should never forget that
their Elders dared to dream, dared
to believe that they could take on
the forces of prejudice in their own
community. They risked ridicule in
the belief that they had the right to
correct a historical wrong in creating
an economic and social platform for
their descendants to achieve things
that they had never had and may not
ever achieve themselves. That is what
they should remember.
I think that as a nonlndian and as a
congressman, my efforts should really
be a footnote. I was not the one locally
whose skin was a different color, a
different pigmentation than the local
community. I was not the one who
ran into prejudice. I was not the one
who challenged the status quo. It was
the Tribal Elders. Therefore, my work
should be seen as a footnote. ... Nev
ertheless, for the succeeding genera
tions of Tribal members, I hope they
will remember first and foremost the
courage and tenacity and brilliance of
the effort of their Elders to make life
better for them.
Reprinted from the Tribe's 25th
Restoration special edition.