Dispute Tribal Rule

A continuing leadership dispute among the Montaukett Indians threatens to delay, if not derail, the tribe's effort to gain Federal recognition.

The feud pits Robert Pharaoh of Sag Harbor against Robert Cooper of East Hampton. Mr. Pharaoh says his claim to be chief, or grand sachem, by ancestral right was recognized by the tribe in a 1995 election, while Mr. Cooper, a former East Hampton Town Councilman, claims to have been elected chief at a tribal meeting held in Amityville in November.

"Until I step down, he'll never be chief," Mr. Pharaoh said this week. "And I never plan to step down."

The Spotlight

In often bitter tones, Mr. Pharaoh denounced Mr. Cooper as a man who wants the spotlight for himself and who is attempting to take credit for Mr. Pharaoh's work on behalf of Federal recognition.

"He loves to be in the media," Mr. Pharaoh said. "No one is acknowledging him as chief of anything. Basically, he's just full of hot air. What can I say?"

Mr. Pharaoh is working to create a cultural center similar to the one now being built by the Shinnecock Tribe in Southampton, part of his attempt, he said, to resurrect the Montauketts.

He questioned whether Mr. Cooper was not more interested in bringing casino gambling to the East End. "They're talking about gaming," he said. "That's not in our best interest."

Feds Confused

After publicly announcing that he had been elected chief at the November gathering attended by 45 members of the tribe and taking the role of spokesman to the press, Mr. Cooper this week declined to discuss the matter.

"It's not in the best interest of the Montauketts that Pharaoh and I get in a fight in the newspaper," Mr. Cooper said. "It's getting out of hand. This is becoming a circus."

The dispute has caused confusion at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Federal agency charged with reviewing tribal claims.

"Leadership Change"?

Lee Fleming, the bureau's regional administrator for New England, said the agency first became aware there was a problem late last year, when it began receiving letters about Federal recognition from Mr. Cooper.

"It is my understanding they have gone through some leadership change," Mr. Fleming said. Although Mr. Pharaoh notified the bureau of the tribe's intention to seek recognition in July 1995, it has not heard from him since, the official added.

"We have asked Mr. Cooper what is going on," he said. "We want to work with the petition group that submitted the initial letter of intent."

Mr. Pharaoh said he saw no need to get back in touch with the bureau until he had finished compiling the tribe's case.

"The document is finished," he said. "We're at the stage where we are just tying up some loose ends and reviewing it."

Could Cause Delay

Unless both factions refused to work together, the leadership dispute would not necessarily doom the tribe's application for recognition, Mr. Fleming said.

However, he noted, it could cause delays by forcing the Government to sift through additional documents.

"We're hoping if there is something going on between two different factions that they would try to resolve it themselves," he said.

Federal recognition means, among other things, financial aid and help inclaiming ancestral lands. Gaining it, however, is a process which can take years to complete.

A tribe must prove it has an ongoing history and community and political ties. It must also provide the Bureau of Indian Affairs with a tribal roll and a "governing document."

Finally, it must prove that it is not a splinter group from another recognized tribe, and that its status under Federal law has never been terminated.

'I'm willing to put my genealogy side by side with anyone, and we'll see who's chief.'

Robert Pharaoh

While Mr. Cooper was unwilling this week to talk about the feud, saying only that "there's always competition in families; it's not uncommon," Mr. Pharaoh said he was eager to set the record straight.

"Blood Lines"

He said Mr. Cooper "had no authority whatsoever" to call the November tribal meeting, and claimed his rival had invited only his allies to the election.

"He handed out ballots with just his name on them," Mr. Pharaoh said. Elections of tribal officers, he added, traditionally take place in June.

Furthermore, Mr. Pharaoh said the position of chief is passed down by blood lines, and said his own election was largely ceremonial after he stepped forward to lead the tribe in 1995 following the death of his mother, Olive Pharaoh.

"I'm willing to put my genealogy side by side with anyone, and we'll see who's chief," he said.

Maria Pharaoh

Ralph Bunn of Wheatley Heights, who serves on Mr. Pharaoh's council and is a genealogist for the tribe, agreed.

"In my mind, there is no question about who is rightfully chief," he said. "We have always recognized the Pharaohs. Robert Cooper is not of Wyandanch Pharaoh's lineage."

While both men are great-grandsons of Maria Pharaoh, a Montaukett queen, Mr. Pharaoh traces his lineage to her first marriage to David Pharaoh, who has been referred to as the tribe's last king, while Mr. Cooper traces his to her fourth marriage, to a member of the Fowler family, Mr. Bunn said.

Support Pharaoh

Mr. Bunn said the present infighting began because Mr. Pharaoh was slow in following up his initial approach to Washington.

"Because he didn't call a meeting as soon as some of the native cousins would have preferred, Bob Cooper stepped up and organized what he is now calling the Montaukett tribe," said Mr. Bunn.

"The animosity is not so much [Mr. Cooper] calling himself chief, because anyone who knows anything about the Montauks knows he is not," said Jim Devine of Montauk, who also serves on Mr. Pharaoh's council. "It goes back a few years."

Mr. Devine claimed Mr. Cooper had once approached Mr. Pharaoh's mother and asked her to "abdicate in his favor," which, said Mr. Devine, she refused to do.

A Mistake?

Mr. Pharaoh confirmed that account. "If she were alive, he wouldn't be trying this," he said.

Mr. Devine also charged that many of the group who elected Mr. Cooper at the meeting in Amityville may have thought they were merely naming him to head the recognition fight.

"People are very upset up there," he maintained. "We can expect a resolution as soon as the group realizes they have been deceived. I think that is in the process of happening right now."

Mr. Bunn, too, said "people will be asking for a recount," but he held out hope the matter could be resolved amicably.

Common Goal

"Our group has done as much as it can to make it known that this is going to cause a conflict," he said. "But I believe we can resolve it, because we all want the same thing: recognition."

"The only thing I can tell you is we are working very hard to do what is right for our family," said Mr. Cooper. "It's never easy, but time will mend it."

"When I started this quest for Federal recognition, my goal was to get the Montauketts what they deserve, to correct an injustice," said Mr. Pharaoh. "This is not about being chief."