Whoops – The Lottery!
There is some – more – bad news about the lottery.
Last year, just about every major Democratic politician promised loud, long and repeatedly that every penny of the $400 million in lottery money would go for new education spending. They even told voters they wrote that into the law: the lottery money would only be used to pay for new education spending.
Brace yourself.
It turns out when the lottery finally passed in the dead of night the same Democratic legislators left out that little piece of law. Or rather, they cancelled it out with another bill.
And, now, the other shoe has fallen. The State Auditor reports half the lottery money isn’t going for new education spending at all. Instead, $200 million is going, in effect, into the black hole in the budget called the General Fund – where the same Democratic leaders can be spent on anything from corporate subsidies to who knows what.
State Auditor, Les Merritt, says, “There is a pretty big disconnect, I believe, between what is the public perception and what the actual legislation allows…”(Charlotte Observer, 2/15/06).
A $200 million disconnect.
The shame here is not just that $200 million is not going to be spent on new education programs – the shame is how thoroughly, completely, and ruthlessly Democratic Party leaders bamboozled voters. As the News & Observer reports, “legislators made almost daily pronouncements” (back when they were passing the lottery) the money would only go to new spending: and, now, before the first lottery ticket is sold that promise is history.
No wonder the Charlotte Observer says “the road to the lottery has been a ride through a cesspool.” And the Wilmington Star says the lottery is “turning out to be a con.”
And what are Governor Easley and the other leaders of the Democratic Party who hoodwinked voters saying now?
Here’s the latest: Governor Easley, (who, now, admits half the lottery money will go to pay for programs the Legislature had been funding for years) says not to worry – he has a plan (the only caveat is we’ll have to wait for his next budget to see it).
And, of course, he told us something like that before the lottery passed, too.
Whoops – The Lottery!
There is some – more – bad news about the lottery.
Last year, just about every major Democratic politician promised loud, long and repeatedly that every penny of the $400 million in lottery money would go for new education spending. They even told voters they wrote that into the law: the lottery money would only be used to pay for new education spending.
Brace yourself.
It turns out when the lottery finally passed in the dead of night the same Democratic legislators left out that little piece of law. Or rather, they cancelled it out with another bill.
And, now, the other shoe has fallen. The State Auditor reports half the lottery money isn’t going for new education spending at all. Instead, $200 million is going, in effect, into the black hole in the budget called the General Fund – where the same Democratic leaders can be spent on anything from corporate subsidies to who knows what.
State Auditor, Les Merritt, says, “There is a pretty big disconnect, I believe, between what is the public perception and what the actual legislation allows…”(Charlotte Observer, 2/15/06).
A $200 million disconnect.
The shame here is not just that $200 million is not going to be spent on new education programs – the shame is how thoroughly, completely, and ruthlessly Democratic Party leaders bamboozled voters. As the News & Observer reports, “legislators made almost daily pronouncements” (back when they were passing the lottery) the money would only go to new spending: and, now, before the first lottery ticket is sold that promise is history.
No wonder the Charlotte Observer says “the road to the lottery has been a ride through a cesspool.” And the Wilmington Star says the lottery is “turning out to be a con.”
And what are Governor Easley and the other leaders of the Democratic Party who hoodwinked voters saying now?
Here’s the latest: Governor Easley, (who, now, admits half the lottery money will go to pay for programs the Legislature had been funding for years) says not to worry – he has a plan (the only caveat is we’ll have to wait for his next budget to see it).
And, of course, he told us something like that before the lottery passed, too.