The Tolbert Report

The Arkansas Lottery Commission Legislative Oversight Committee met yesterday and approved the hiring of South Carolina Lottery Executive Director Ernie Passailaigue to be the first Arkansas Lottery Czar (aka Executive Director).  The main sticking point of the meeting was the $324,000 salary recommended by the Lottery Commission.

Commission Chairman and former Congressman Ray Thornton said that this amount was necessary to attract Passailaigue to Arkansas.  Although Thornton insisted that they carefully reviewed every application submitted to the Commission, he admitted that they only interviewed Passailaigue after his was nominated by a member of the Commission, “as he emerged through the search process,” said Thornton.  “It’s a good deal for Arkansas. We are glad to go out and get him and we recruited him from a state which has a strong lottery.  We’re very fortunate.”

But not all of the state legislators on the Oversight Committee members were as enthusiastic.  “My feeling is that (the salary) is higher than I would have liked to have seen,” said Sen. Johnny Key, “but given his expertise, given the possibility that he can come in here and get the lottery up and running as soon as possible, it’s acceptable.”  Sen. Key went on to state that he is hopefully that they will see some cost savings in some of the other executive salaries by having someone of Passailaigue’s experience as director.