We posted yesterday a news release from Lt. Gov. Bill Halter about mayors and county judges who backed his state lottery proposal.
Oops. Checking a tip from South Arkansas, we found at least one county judge, Larry Atkinson of Columbia County, who was “definitely” surprised to be counted as having endorsed the lottery.
Atkinson said that when Halter called him he told him, “People should be given a choice to vote up or down on it. But I didn’t endorse anything like that.”
A spokesman for Halter said:
Lieutenant Governor Halter phoned the judge this morning to clear-up any confusion. We regret that this was just a simple matter of miscommunication. While he is not endorsing or opposing the actual scholarship lottery, Judge Atkinson does support having the measure on the November ballot so Arkansans can decide for themselves if Arkansas should have its own scholarship lottery. The lieutenant governor is thankful for Judge Atkinsons’s support for allowing Arkansans to vote on the scholarship lottery.