7/13/2004 07:57:09 AM|||Nathan Moore|||

I opposed the lottery in Tennessee personally. Not because I have this phobic view on gambling, but because I don't care for the idea of giving the state legislature billions of dollars to spend. Somehow I don't trust them to spend it all on education. Plus, it's a tax on the poor. Go to your local Mapco and see who are the majority of people buying the tickets. But to squabble over the salaries and compensation packages of lottery execs, which are low in view of the size of the operation and what is comparable in the private sector, is innane.

State Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, the chief sponsor of the lottery, said the executives free-loaded off the lottery too long in temporary housing.

''I think these moving expenses are just part of a condition that needs to be reined in,'' he said. ''All the expenses of the lottery need to be examined closely and re-examined. They've not done a good enough job to keep expenses low.''

Right. Because this doesn't matter

But the lottery, which started Jan. 20, began 16 days ahead of schedule and kicked off the multistate Powerball game earlier than anyone thought possible, Hill said.

Only because every day started early meant a gain in $800,000 to $1,000,000 in revenue. The total in "moving expenses" that Senator Cohen and others are so maturely complaining about totaled $50,000.00. Geeze. Get some perspective. I'm not a fan of the lottery, but the supporters of it have no clue what they're doing. If they're going to get bent out of shape about a conservative gain of $12.8 million for a cost of $50,000, they don't need to be in government. I'm not sure where they should be, or who would hire them, but they shouldn't be in government.

In other words, this justifies this.

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