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The speaker's commissioners

House Speaker Robbie Wills announced his choices for the state lottery commission today.

* Joe White, a Conway businessman and former UCA trustee. He ran unsuccessfully for Senate against Gilbert Baker last year.

* Mike Malone of Fayetteville, director of the Northwest Arkansas Council, the region's economic development group. He had a Clinton administration job in Washington.

* Dr. Susan Ward-Jones, a Marion physician. She's black. I note this because the legislation establishing the commission encouraged diversity.

Gov. Beebe's still to come.

Here's Wills' full release.

Posted by Max Brantley on April 1, 2009 11:37 AM |

Comments

Interesting....

Joe White's daughter is also the father of Robbie's assistant at the Capitol. And Dr. Jones is the wife of Steve, DHS Deputy Director.

Is this Robbie's way of controlling the Commission?

Posted by: solon [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 1, 2009 12:26 PM

What a strange world in which we live:


"Joe White's daughter is also the father of ............"

Posted by: mudturtle [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 1, 2009 12:54 PM

Sure hope our new lottery is run better than Joe White's campaign last year.

Posted by: PVNasby [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 1, 2009 01:01 PM

oops -- thanks mud turtle -- that's what back space is for --

Robbie's assistant is the daughter of Joe White.

I still think its interesting that 2 of the commissioners have immediate family on the state payroll --

Posted by: solon [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 1, 2009 05:25 PM

What do you expect? It is amazing that nobody even called into question the fact that two-thirds of the appointments must be made by legislators and not by the chief executive of the state. Of course, since the Guv came from those halls, he cast a blind eye to the lack of balance in his own appointment power to assure that the broader interests are served. The imbalance in the appointment structure is a major flaw. This seemingly-innocent provision is another way for the legislature to wangle its influence into an executive function. It would have been far better to put the appointment (and removal) authority in the Governor's hands. Don't be surprised when this aspect of this secretly-written law turns out to be an Achilles heel.

Posted by: Cuervo [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 1, 2009 10:42 PM

What is the name of Joe White's daughter? I thought Robbie only had one assistant.

Posted by: dapper [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 2, 2009 04:56 PM

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