Board Member Profile: Brian Campbell

CAMPBELL: I also work for my Tribe doing things like ordinances, statutes, contracts, client applications, and resolutions, as well as a couple of specific cases. One with the Interior Board of Indian Appeals and one small dispute with a State agency in Sacramento.

CILS: How long have you been doing attorney work for your Tribe?

CAMPBELL: I’ve been doing work for my Tribe for 3 or 4 years. It’s been more formal since our Tribe was restored to federal recognition at the end of 2000. I was also a council member for two terms before I switched over to focusing on legal issues for the Tribe. Balancing time is a challenge for everyone, and focusing on legal matters is the way I can make the greatest contribution right now. My wife and I have two children, and it’s really important to me to have time to spend with my family as well.

The Tribe’s Recognition

CILS: Could you talk about the restoration process -- what it was like going through that with your Tribe?

CAMPBELL: It was definitely a major hurdle. Many other tribes are either petitioning for recognition, or trying to be restored, and it’s a major accomplishment once you get there. It’s a long battle, and a tribe has to deal with a lot of issues, both internal and external, as it goes through that process. The process started around 1992-93, and was initially focused on a petition for acknowledgment. It soon became evident that one of the Miwok bands in Marshall was supposed to be part of Graton Rancheria and because it had been terminated, Congressional restoration was really the only way we were going to be restored. You can’t petition for acknowledgment if you’ve been legislatively terminated. The federal legislation was first introduced in 1998, and introduced again in 1999. There was a hearing in the early part of 2000 and then the legislation was shelved by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and then was resurrected at the end of that Congress as part of an omnibus bill that was passed by the House in October 2000 and by the Senate in December 2000. It was one of their last acts of that session of Congress, and was signed by President Clinton between Christmas and New Year’s of 2000. The amount of personal effort on the part of the council members, and all the postcards and letters that got sent in -- not only from our tribe but everyone our tribe knows – that involves a tremendous amount of effort.

Tribal Infrastructure

CILS: What other recent accomplishments of your Tribe are especially significant?

CAMPBELL: There are many yet to come. There is a huge amount of work that needs to be done in terms of organizational abilities and infrastructure. The Bush administration hasn’t funded a new tribes’ program, so even though we have been restored, we didn’t receive start-up funding like tribes did during previous administrations. That has proven to be a challenge. We are also dealing with the BIA in Sacramento on some initial organizational issues -- enrollment, the constitution, and the initial tribal council election. That process is being worked through now. It’s taking a little longer than expected, but these are issues we need to address before we approach bigger issues such as land and economic development.

The elections are scheduled for later this year. The enrollment process was expected to take a year, but it took a year and a half and there was a lot of confusion that we are still working through.

CILS: What do you see as the next major prospect for the Tribe?

CAMPBELL: There are a lot of programs being developed -- getting a housing program up and going with HUD, and dealing with NAHSDA and block grant applications and getting detailed information from people who need housing assistance. We’re also working on an EPA GAP program and a planning grant that the tribe has. How complex and involved our environmental program gets will depend on what step we’re at once when we acquire land. Of course it will be much more involved than it is now.

CILS: Are there other things you’ve learned from going through the long process of getting recognized?

CAMPBELL: It takes a long time, but the strength that you develop from having to maintain a long campaign, and dealing with organizing a new tribal government, are very important. Once you are restored, that experience helps trigger success -- even if you aren’t restored or recognized right away, being able to interact successfully with other agencies benefits the tribe. You are able to represent people’s views and deal with dissenting views, so that conflicts don’t just tear the organization apart. That’s an important facility to have. Some tribes that do have federal recognition have those same internal conflicts, and to me that is this is one area that doesn’t matter if you’re restored or not, having that ability is the key to success. We had a successful non-profit organization long before we were restored, and that allowed us to work with the National Park Service out at Point Reyes. It helped facilitate dealing with cities and federal agencies that were doing cultural resource projects. It does not always take formal tribal organization to get going.

CILS: What kinds of cultural resource protection issues is your Tribe dealing with right now?

CAMPBELL: Well, only the highest priorities really get any attention because there are just too many issues right now and not enough funding, but there are a large number of cultural resource sites in our ancestral territory where development either has gone on or is being planned, so dealing with freeways and housing, and sites that are exposed to the elements – that is our main focus. There are emergencies that come up that have to be dealt with, and there are some efforts going on with the Park Service to try to do something more long-term -- make sure that they have a plan in place that represents the values of our Tribe, as well as just their National Park Service policy. Hopefully, we’ll be able to work with the State Parks as well at some point. There is a lot of State Park land in our territory; all along the coast is State Park.

On CILS’ Role

CILS: I’d like to ask you about what you see as some of the most significant advances that California Indians have achieved over the thirty-five period that CILS has been in existence?

CAMPBELL: Definitely the work that CILS does for recognition and acknowledgment of tribes is one of the most significant accomplishments. There are a lot of tribes in California that owe their federal acknowledgment or existence to CILS’ assistance. That continues to be a focus and hopefully it will continue on into the future, because it is a major part of how tribes without a lot of resources get legal help to reach that stage.

CILS: What role do you see CILS playing over the next 35 years?

CAMPBELL: I hope that as many tribes as possible that have been denied federal acknowledgment and recognition can be brought to the same level that others have, and that all tribes can prosper through economic development and get stronger and stronger organizationally. I think CILS can help in both those areas.

Some of the more recent work that CILS has been involved in, including issues in Washington, D.C. are very important, such as TANF re-authorization and the housing programs through HUD. To me, such activities are a way of the future: you can produce a lot of benefits for almost all of the tribes in California by doing such work.

Internally, the more sophisticated tribal programs are, and the more far-reaching that the developments are, the more tribes need to have internal processes and organization. A lot of that comes down to legal work: having codes and policies in place. If you do that once, you develop the expertise to do it for many tribes in an efficient way, and I think that is something that CILS does really effectively. Work that’s good for not just one tribe, but that can help a bunch of tribes, is right up CILS’ alley.

CILS: It’s interesting. The more you build that infrastructure, in some ways it actually increases the need for legal services rather than decreases them. The more you can take on, the more you need to do to further increase your capacity.

CAMPBELL: Sometimes when there are internal tribal conflicts, it’s because there aren’t clear policies, governing documents, and so on. Developing that infrastructure just multiplies itself in terms of benefits over time.

CILS: This edition of the newsletter has an article about this in the context of tribal housing. Jenny Kim, the coordinator of CILS’ Housing Practice Group, notes that one of the things that happens for tribes trying to provide housing for members is that if you don’t have particular tribal codes or ordinances in place, it inhibits outside investors. There’s all kinds of ways these issues interconnect.

CAMPBELL: And when you apply for grant funds too, the more established policies and documentation you have, the more attractive your grant application is, because the funder knows that you have some process in place that is going to be accountable for the funds.

Building Government-to-Government Relationships

CILS: What do you think are the biggest challenges facing California Indian tribes now and over the next ten years?

CAMPBELL: I definitely think that interaction with local governments, counties, and cities is a huge issue, and it will only get bigger because of the economic development activities. Having success in interfacing with local governments is something that keeps coming back again and again. It’s just not possible to have our land over here, and you have your land over there, and not talk to each other, deal with each other. Having successful relationships -- without having to give up all kinds of decision-making authority and independence -- will take time because you don’t just come to the magic solution right off the bat. It just has to evolve to a place where we both entities are okay with how the future is going to look. Right now, depending on where you go, there are successes in collaboration, but there are too few and there are more instances of conflict. This won’t be an issue in just the next year or two; this is the next 10-20 years or so.

CILS: Have you found any strategies particularly effective for trying to build these relationships?

CAMPBELL: In other areas where counties and tribes have reached agreement, I think there are examples that we can look to. Then each individual tribe has to weigh how valuable that is to their situation and decide: is the county asking for too much? Is there something we can do that will be successful? Taking things step-by-step is one approach, at least for us, and not trying to do too much too soon.

Becoming an Attorney

CILS: Why did you decide to become a lawyer?

CAMPBELL: You know, I have a technical background too – my undergraduate degree is in engineering. I was always more interested in policy-type issues: why does the law favor this interest or another interest? And working for a utility, the work is very focused and you learn the ins and outs of a very narrow field. But you also learn how these processes work: how to work with regulatory agencies, the state and federal governments. Dealing with a tribe, there is such a broad swathe of issues -- social assistance, housing, land and natural resources -- but it still means dealing with the state and federal governments and regulatory processes and lawsuits and so my experience has helped quite a lot, process-wise.

CILS’ Importance

CILS: Is there anything else that you want to talk about that we have not gotten to that you want to be able to say?

CAMPBELL: Naturally, I just have very high regard for the work that CILS does and the CILS staff, including their professionalism and their ability to stay with issues over a long time and be tenacious about it. Many other groups don’t have that even though they have a lot more resources. CILS’ ability to produce results over the long term is something I think everyone should be aware of.