OLD TOWN – American Indian tribal leaders from across the state gathered Friday to show support for presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

“I believe that Kerry and Edwards are the people that are going to make a difference, not just for Native Americans, but for everyone,” Penobscot Nation Lt. Governor Mike Bear said Friday.

The tribal representatives said they aren’t pleased with President George Bush’s agenda, stating that he has cut American Indian funding in several areas, including housing, education and healthcare. They also said Bush has no concept of what tribal sovereignty really is.

“What he says and what he does are two different things,” Dave Slagger, state advocate for Native American Veterans, said. Slagger is a member of the Aroostook Micmac tribe.

American Indians are given less money for health care than jail and prison inmates, according to statistics cited Friday by David Hayes, former deputy secretary of the Department of Interior under Bill Clinton.

In the 2003 fiscal year, Bush cut American Indian housing funding by $2.5 million, and by even more in 2004, according to the tribal representatives.

“Native Americans are the lowest people on the totem pole,” Bear said.

The tribal representatives said they also are concerned about Bush’s environmental record. “President Bush has essentially abandoned the environment,” Hayes said, stating that the president has sided with big business and abandoned his federal responsibility to protect public lands.

“In contrast, John Kerry has been an environmental champion for his entire career,” Hayes said. “John Kerry will become, perhaps, our best environmental president.”

Representatives from the Bush-Cheney campaign disagree. “The funding [for American Indian healthcare] has been increased every year since President Bush took office,” Dwayne Bickford, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, said. “He’s also provided economic development funds to improve economic development and protect the quality of life in Indian communities.”

As for the tribal representatives’ claims that Bush is not an environmental president, Bickford said the allegations are “just not true.”

He said the president has promoted healthy skies and forest initiatives, as well as providing funding for environmental programs. “This is nothing more than election-year politics,” Bickford said.

Despite what the Republicans say, Maine American Indians said they feel a change is necessary.

“Today we are encouraged and have hope that John Kerry will hear our voices, the voices of the first Americans,” Chief Brenda Commander of the Houlton Maliseet tribe said.