a friend of mine who was for the lottery emailed some senators a month of so ago. here are some responses:
CORRESPONDENCE:
WHY I DON'T SUPPORT THE LOTTERY
Senator Robert Pittenger (R) Mecklenburg
The North Carolina Legislature faces an ongoing annual structural deficit approaching $2 billion by 2010, according to the NC General Assembly Fiscal Research Department. The Governor and Legislative leadership are desperate to find new sources of revenue to enable them to fund their insatiable thirst for new and expanding programs. The 2005-2006 budget, just passed by the Legislature had the fifth consecutive year of $ 1 billion spending increases. The lottery has been promoted to the public as an "education" lottery in an effort to find acceptance to secure more revenue for wasteful and duplicate programs. If you are assuming that the money would be used to expand education, consider the following: the legislature regularly raids trust accounts designated for transportation, Medicaid, rainy day, clean water, etc. The $17.2 billion budget we just passed raided $ 252 million from the Highway Trust Fund, $ 34 million from the Tobacco Trust Fund (economic development), and $ 50 million from the Medicaid Reserve Fund...remember those are Trust funds. They have raided these funds to pay for other programs, if you wonder why the outer belt and interstate widening are not finished! The “education†lottery fund would only support the annual budget deficit and bloated state spending.
If the democrat leaders in Raleigh truly wanted to provide more funding for education, how about addressing the Fiscal Research Department’s analysis that 35% of the personnel in the public school system are non-classroom administrative/overhead personnel and 45% administrative/overhead personnel in the UNC system. We need to put those resources in the classroom and not in a bloated bureaucracy. Or, how about addressing Medicaid fraud detection which is projected by the General Accounting Office to have at least 10% fraud in the $2.5 billion the state funds in Medicaid, yielding $250 million dollars. Foundation for NC Future's website,
www.ncfuture.org, identifies over $1 billion in savings through implementing efficiencies, consolidations and restructuring of state government. Let's manage our government better and use those savings for education. Other states like Massachusetts have saved through efficiencies, consolidations and restructuring of government. They had a $ 3 billion deficit two years ago and today have a $ 700 million surplus, without raising taxes.
The lottery is projected to raise $1 billion and yet only $300 million would net for "education", with the remaining going to the out of state gaming promoters and to the one winner, taking $700 million out of the economy, not spent on goods and services. All of this while exploiting those who can least afford it, creating greater social ills that the state would then have to address and fund by the taxpayers. As my daddy used to say, "all that glitters is not gold". The lottery is not the answer for education – better management of your tax dollars is the solution.
Robert Pittenger
7730 Baltusrol Lane
Charlotte, NC 28210
704-554-0790
I respectfully must disagree with you on your position favoring the lottery. I oppose it primarily because I don't think our government needs to be promoting gambling. There are numerous negative ramifications associated with gambling, including encouraging an attitude of laziness and sloth. I.e. "why work, I might win the lottery" or "I'll just spend a few dollars on the lottery instead of saving money to pay my rent or buy food for the family." These attitudes are destructive to our society.
Further, only about one third of the money raised actually is available to fund education. So in addition to the damage done to our society, this is a very inefficient way to generate government revenues. The remaining two thirds of the money goes for overhead and promotion.
The promotion of gambling is as destructive as gambling itself. We don't need to be teaching our young people that gambling is a legitimate way to make money.
And finally, those spending most on the lottery are those that can least afford it. It is basically a tax being funded by the poor.
Although we disagree on this issue, I appreciate hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Neal Hunt
Thank you for emailing my office supporting an education lottery for North Carolina. Like you, I support a lottery to fund school construction and other important educational needs.
Unfortunately, the Senate fell one vote short of passing a lottery this weekend. We had hoped to gain the votes of a few Senate Republicans who have previously expressed support for a lottery, but it appears that all 21 Senate Republicans remain opposed to the lottery as a “caucus position,†meaning that all 21 members take that position regardless of their personal beliefs.
You might wish to contact other members of the Senate to communicate your opinions about the importance of an education lottery for North Carolina. A full list of Senate members is available at the Internet address listed below:
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=Senate
Again, I appreciate your willingness to take the time to share your concerns with me, and I share your belief that an education lottery would help get our schools the resources they need to give our children the opportunities they deserve. Thank you again for contacting my office.
Sincerely yours,
Marc Basnight
keep sending it to the republicans.
thank you for your interest
clark jenkins
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I found myself in agreement with Pittenger the most. Hunt's was pretty lame. Jenkins seems totally lame.
But listen openly to both sides, they are both lying, just try to find what makes sense to you.
