Halter Says Lottery Salaries Are “Too High;” Shifts Blame to Legislators
I hate being the type of guy that says cock-a-doodle-doo and takes credit for the sun coming up. But just yesterday I asked where Bill Halter is on the lottery issue and today he is quoted in a story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Looks like Halter did not have time to talk to the Tolbert Report but made the time for Michael Wickline at the ADG. (Smart guy. His staff deserve a raise.)
Anyway, Halter was certainly careful with his words but he did say he thought that some of the salaries were “too high” but dismissed most of the lottery’s problems as “speed bumps.”
You know speed bumps tend to be a lot more damaging when your driving 75 miles an hour than if you slow down and go over them carefully. Which reminds me, make sure you check out my op-ed for the Arkansas News Bureau – “Taking Measure of the Lottery: Why the Rush?”
Perhaps the most interesting quote from Halter was the following, “In this office, we don’t have any role in the appointment of the commissioners and we don’t have any role in terms of the legislative oversight, so what purpose does it serve for me to point to an individual and say that person’s salary is too high?”
As a background on this, Halter was all but excluded from the process of drawing up the legislation during the previous session. This role was largely taken over by House Speaker Robbie Wills. In addition, the Lottery Commissioners are appointed by Speaker Wills, along with Senate Pro Temp Bob Johnson, and Governor Mike Beebe. The Legislative Oversight Committee is appointed by Speaker Wills (who also serves on the Committee) and Pro Temp Johnson.
Gee, I wonder who Halter is saying is really to blame for these problems. (Hint – It’s Robbie Wills.)
July 29th, 2009 at 5:59 am
Enjoyed your op-ed. Here’s the answer to your question:
http://lotterycommission.arkansas.gov/pdfs/rules_enabling/Emergency_Stmt-Rules_of_Practice_and_Procedure.pdf
Statement of Necessity for Emergency Promulgation: “The Arkansas Lottery Commission finds that a delay in beginning the start up of the Arkansas Lottery Commission will result in a subsequent delay in the selling of lottery tickets, causing a loss of revenue for higher education scholarships and grants resulting in imminent peril to the public health, safety, or welfare of the citizens of Arkansas, and as such emergency promulgation of the Arkansas Lottery Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure is immediately necessary.”
Legal definition of imminent peril:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Imminent
“Danger that is certain, immediate, and impending, such as the type an individual might be in as a result of a serious illness or accident. The chance of the individual dying would be highly probable in such situation, as opposed to remote or contingent. For a gift causa mortis (Latin for “in anticipation of death”) to be effective, the donor must be in imminent peril and must die as a result of it.”
We’re all gonna diiiiiieee!!
July 29th, 2009 at 6:59 am
[...] by Brett Kincaid on July 29, 2009 The Tolbert Report continues its dogged coverage of the new Arkansas lottery. This entry focuses on lottery godfather, Lt. Gov. Bill [...]
August 4th, 2009 at 10:21 am
That’s some great spin. I actually am looking forward to seeing who will be a real challenger to his seat. Even with all that back stepping and sliding and placing the blame on someone else. the GOP candidate, (your friend Jason) is still going to lose. Darr is out of touch with the people’s pulse. While we are on the same topic or close to it. Who will be the lamb from the GOP to run against the governor. The unnamed, Gopper doesn’t stand a chance. But someone has to do the heavy lifting, because if not The republican’s don’t have a automatic seat at the 2012 primaries for all the statewide candidates. They will all have to get signatures, thus making them independents like Trevor Drown.
Or has no one from the State GOP thought that far out?
October 28th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Looks like Passailaigue pulled it off on the lottery. So far the scratch off tickets have been selling more than a million dollars worth a day and the Powerball starts up on Halloween.
This should help tremendously on the scholarship fund and get a lot more students an invaluable education.
Who would have ever thought a lottery could save the state…