The state legislature’s House Ethics Panel has dismissed a complaint filed by leaders of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi against Rep. Troy Headrick (I-Burlington), who has spoken critically of Vermont’s state recognition process of Native Americans. The legislator’s conduct did not violate House ethics rules or the state constitution, the panel decided.
Headrick disclosed the complaint and the panel’s decision on his personal website on February 14, two days after the committee issued its decision. The House Ethics Panel, a bipartisan committee of five members, keeps details of ethics complaints confidential and does not release related documents to the public.
The complaint against Headrick, filed by Brenda Gagne, the chief of the state-recognized Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, and members of the tribal council, alleged that Headrick had defamed local Abenaki leaders and undermined “Indigenous self-determination and dignity.” The filing cited public and written statements made by Headrick regarding recently published genealogical research questioning Vermont tribe members’ native heritage. The group said his comments demonstrated “clear malice,” damaged the tribe’s reputation, and led to lost income and a loss of self-determination.
Headrick has publicly criticized the Vermont legislature’s process in the early 2010s that led to the formal recognition of the state’s four Abenaki tribes. Since then, the two Western Abenaki nations based in Québec — Odanak First Nation and Wôlinak First Nation, whose members are federally recognized in Canada — have said Vermont granted recognition in a flawed process to groups they contend cannot document continuous Abenaki ancestry or political community, a claim Vermont’s recognized tribes dispute.
Last February, Headrick introduced legislation that calls for a task force to “review the validity” of the previous state recognition decisions and add oversight to the ongoing truth and reconciliation process. This year, he brought forward a separate measure that would require schools and museums to consult with Odanak and Wôlinak First Nations on educational materials involving Indigenous history and culture in Vermont. Neither bill has advanced out of committee.
In the complaint, filed on November 17, Gagne and the tribal council members wrote that “Rep. Headrick’s statements were made without any regard to the truth or the outcome they would have on the people of his state that he is sworn to serve.”
“We urge the Ethics Committee to investigate whether Rep. Headrick’s statements constitute a breach of ethical conduct, especially in light of their defamatory nature, misuse of genealogical data, and disregard for Indigenous rights recognized under Vermont law and international standards,” the complaint concluded.
Gagne did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
Don Stevens, chief of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation, appeared to respond to the ethics complaint in an email to Gagne and the House Ethics Panel nearly two months later, on January 9, to share additional concerns that Headrick was “using his position as a Vermont Legislator (not as an individual) to project some sort of authority over our ethnicity or legal status as Abenaki Indians who are also Vermont Citizens.” The panel did not appear to consider Stevens’ submission as part of its determination.
In Headrick’s formal response to the panel, filed on January 22, the representative refuted the allegations made by both Gagne and Stevens and requested the committee dismiss the complaint.
“My position regarding Vermont’s state recognition process has been consistent and longstanding,” Headrick wrote. “I do not accept that state recognition, standing alone, resolves the underlying historical and genealogical questions implicated by that process. I have been equally consistent in expressing my intent to pursue policy reforms that revisit or reverse outcomes produced by processes I view as substantively flawed.”
Headrick defended his actions and First Amendment rights, and called on the panel to “avoid conflating substantive policy disagreement with ethical misconduct.”
“Substantive disagreement with my conclusions is properly resolved through legislative debate, not through an ethics proceeding,” he wrote.
The House Ethics Panel notified Gagne and Headrick of its decision in a February 12 letter, writing that “there are no reasonable grounds to believe that an ethical violation occurred.”
The committee acknowledged that, as members of state-recognized tribes, Gagne and the tribal council members have a “significant interest” in Headrick’s actions related to the state recognition process.
“However, in reviewing all of the complaint materials submitted, the Panel found no instances demonstrating that Representative Headrick was targeting or harassing individuals, and determined that he was instead engaging in policy advocacy, which is a core legislative function,” the panel wrote. The panel indicated its decision to close the complaint was based on a review of the materials alone, and it did not initiate a formal investigation.
Headrick said in an interview on Monday that he was not surprised the ethics panel dismissed the complaint, because he believed his actions were well within his rights as a legislator. He decided to post the documents on his website so the public could review them and to highlight what he described as a pattern of ad hominem attacks by members of state-recognized tribes against individuals who push back on the groups’ claims of Indigenous ancestry and heritage.
“Everyone has the right to file a complaint. That is not the issue,” Headrick wrote on his website. “The concern arises when those mechanisms are used not to address misconduct, but to weaponize legitimate processes to discourage scrutiny and silence dissent.”
Headrick said he has not had any direct communication with members of the state-recognized tribes since the ethics complaint was filed.
With the complaint now dismissed and public, Headrick intends to stay vocal on Indigenous issues as a legislator and community member.
“My goal is to get reelected and to do this again next biennium,” Headrick said.
His focus will include the potential Burlington City Council action set for Tuesday, February 17, regarding whether to replace a statue of Chief Greylock, an Abenaki, in the city’s Battery Park. A replacement was commissioned by the Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi, the same tribe that filed the complaint against Headrick.
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