Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter & Cronies Continue to Push Lottery Amendment

Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: During the last election cycle, I heard members of both parties advance the idea that the Lt. Governor position can't "really" impact legislation or change and that the Lt. Governor only chairs the Senate, breaks tie votes, and fills in for the Governor when he is out of State. Regardless, the ARRA and others spoke out about liberal Bill Halter and his past association with business with ties to pornography and gambling. But, Halter was elected and he has continued to press for increased gambling in Arkansas even after the legislature let HJR1005 lottery proposal die in committee.

Halter working with his gaming cronies have put forth a proposed amendment for a State Lottery. They plan to entice voters by tying the lottery to funding college scholarships. In September, they had a setback when their proposed amendment was rejected by Attorney General Dustin McDaniel because of "unclear language."

However, that didn't stop Halter and his cronies. On Thursday, Halter submitted a revised version of his ballot proposal for a state lottery to the attorney general's office. Now the ball is back in play. Thursday in a news release, Halter said, "I am delighted that we have taken another step closer towards allowing Arkansans to decide for themselves if our state deserves its own scholarship lottery. Every day, Arkansans cross state lines to play lotteries that benefit others. Given a choice, I believe our state will vote to establish our own scholarship lottery that keeps our money here at home helping Arkansans."

If Attorney General McDaniel approves the new wording, Halter's campaign group will have to collect 78,000 signatures to put the amendment on the 2008 general election ballot. However, I would expect they already have the support in place to collect the signatures from both supporters and unsuspecting voters. Their effort to obtain signatures will be much easier than the work and expense that will be required by family values voters to overcome the impact of the professional advertising that will be used to promote Halter's lottery.

Does it matter who is Lt Governor? Yes it does. We miss the affability and honesty of the former Lt. Governor Win Rockefeller. Now, we are faced with a Lt. Governor who is dead set on Arkansas becoming the next "lottery state." Halter and his cohorts, Bud Jackson, et.al., have named their project "Hope for Arkansas Lottery Campaign." I guess the devil is in the details after all. If the AG approves Halter's amendment, the ARRA is prepared to do battle. We have already put forth "Eight Reason to Oppose a State Lottery."

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