House Speaker Robbie Wills says the lottery legislation will forbid gifts to lottery employees and commissioners (and I hope their families) of any size, no matter how small. Gifts presumably also will mean official travel, unlike the exception afforded other elected officials.
He also says the new law will prohibt them from becoming lobbyists for two years after leaving the lottery agency.
These are welcome developments. Maybe they could prohibit lottery vendors from giving gifts to legislators, too.
Some explicit language on open records might be useful.
Same story, Gov. Mike Beebe is asked about a constitutional amendment introduced to shift spending power from the lottery agency to the legislature:
“I haven’t looked at it, so I’m not really in a position now to even respond to whether we support it or not. I’ve just read the press accounts,” Beebe said. “I can tell you, basically you don’t normally mess with what the people wanted to do that quickly.”
True that.
Still speaking of the lottery and the competition between the Father of the Arkansas Lottery, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, and the legislature, John Brummett scores the game currently at Halter 2, Legislature 1.