Leaders of Minnesota's biggest American Indian tribes are criticizing U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber for his efforts to build opposition to President Joe Biden's pick for Interior secretary, who is herself a tribal member.
Most egregiously, state tribal leaders said, Stauber — a Republican whose northeastern Minnesota district is home to several of the state's largest bands — did not even give them a heads-up that he would be trying to sink the nomination of Democratic Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico to lead the Department of the Interior.
"We felt like we were blindsided," Faron Jackson Sr., chairman of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, said Thursday. "You know, we might not change his opinion or his outlook, but at least give us the consultation."
Several groups of tribal leaders sent blistering letters to Stauber last week after learning that he had been reaching out to House colleagues seeking co-signers for a letter to the new Biden administration asking that Haaland's name be withdrawn from consideration.
Stauber cited Haaland's support for the Green New Deal, a broad environmental initiative put forward by progressive Democrats as a means of fighting climate change.
Calling Haaland a "direct threat to working men and women and a rejection of responsible development of America's natural resources," Stauber said her support for the Green New Deal makes her unfit to lead the Department of Interior.
Stauber declined an interview request for this story. A spokeswoman, Kelsey Mix, said his opposition to Haaland is tied only to support for environmental policies that Mix characterized as "anti-jobs and anti-mining."
Stauber "remains committed to working with and building strong relationships with tribal communities and their leaders, and he will continue to hear them out on this issue," Mix wrote in an e-mail. She said that Stauber has not yet sent the letter about Haaland to the Biden administration.