01:00 AM EDT on Friday, October 17, 2008

By Katie Mulvaney

Journal Staff Writer

Charlestown leaders are backing the town’s Indian affairs solicitor as the best person to argue a high-stakes land case before the U.S. Supreme Court next month, despite personal pleas from Governor Carcieri that they throw their support behind a prominent Washington, D.C., appellate lawyer.

Governor Carcieri appealed to the Town Council in a closed-door meeting Tuesday in Charlestown to back former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson as the state’s best chance to keep control over 31 acres the Narragansett Indian tribe owns in Charlestown. Olson has tried 50 cases before the high court, including the one that secured George W. Bush the White House eight years ago.

But three council members interviewed yesterday said they continued to support Joseph S. Larisa Jr., the town’s assistant solicitor on Indian affairs who has been involved in fighting the U.S. Department of Interior’s right to place the land in trust for the tribe for a decade. Larisa has never argued before the high court.

“We made a decision to back Larisa … I have no reason to change my mind,” Katharine H. Waterman said yesterday. The fourth council member, Bruce Picard, did not return two phone calls.

Carcieri made his appeal at the Town Hall a week after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected requests that the state and town split their 30 minutes of arguing time among multiple lawyers. In doing so, the court left it to the governor and attorney general’s office and the town to decide who should try the case.

Carcieri and Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch both support Olson, though Lynch’s office initially sought its own arguing time. The governor hired Olson for $200,000 shortly after the court agreed to hear the state’s appeal in February.

Larisa has proposed the issue be settled by a coin toss.

But Lynch refused, spurring Larisa to write the court clerk that the parties had reached an “unresolvable impasse.” Lynch on Friday asked the court to intervene, saying Larisa couldn’t “ethically represent the broader interests of Rhode Island.” Larisa too asked for direction, noting that he previously filed nine briefs with the state without complaint.

The court does not intend to step in. “The court doesn’t have a role in determining who will argue,” said Kathy Arberg, a public information officer for the Supreme Court.

Waterman and council member Harriet Allen said yesterday it was a shame that Larisa and Olson weren’t preparing together, with less than three weeks to go. They worried that although Olson might be a quick study, he might not be as equipped as Larisa to argue Indian law or answer questions about the land claims settlement that gave the Narragansett tribe its other 1,800 acres in Charlestown

“I told the governor that the position of the Town of Charlestown is that we want the dream team,” Allen said of the Olson-Larisa combination. “We’ve got no choice now, we’re going to have half of the dream team.”

Waterman added: “There was a day when Mr. Olson appeared before the Supreme Court for the first time. Mr. Larisa shouldn’t be denied that experience.”

Amy Kempe, Carcieri’s spokeswoman, did not return a phone call.

The state brought the suit against the U.S. Department of Interior almost a decade ago after the department agreed to place 31 acres in Charlestown in trust for the tribe. Trust status would free the land from most state and local laws and place it under federal and tribal control. Rhode Island and Charlestown leaders fear it could open the door to a casino or other venture outside of state oversight.

The state, which was joined in the suit by Charlestown, has lost in U.S. District Court, before a federal appeals panel and again before the full 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

The parties have until Oct. 31 to decide who will argue. The council will meet in executive session to discuss the issue today.

kmulvane@projo.com