Speaker
Black says ‘votes aren’t there’
in House Finance to pass a lottery bill
 The
talk was all about broad economic issues and high moral
concepts as lottery supporters and opponents rallied outside
the General Assembly on Tuesday. But inside the building,
House Speaker Jim Black (right) was focusing on more practical
issues at ground level. The do-or-die location for a lottery
bill is the House Finance Committee, the speaker reasoned,
which doesn’t look good for lottery supporters.
Black told reporters the votes aren’t there to get a lottery
bill through House Finance. Opponents on the committee include
an odd mix of conservatives, who view a lottery as sinful, and
liberals, who fear a lottery would weaken state funding for
education. However, observers said it’s possible a bill
could be rammed through the committee if the Democratic
leadership uses its power to assign three “floaters” to
the panel who would vote for a lottery. Such a tactic would
get a bill to the House floor, where other lottery battles
loom.
The N.C. Association of Educators announced its support for a
lottery because it said schools need the extra money that a
lottery would provide. "With the continuing softness in
traditional state revenue sources such as taxes and fees, NCAE
recognizes that a state lottery offers an alternative source
for much-needed revenues to fund new education
priorities," President Joyce Elliott said. "The
state's voters deserve to make a choice on the issue."
Former UNC President Bill Friday, speaking to a crowd of
lottery opponents rallying outside the General Assembly, said,
"Our state has the capacity and the will to finance the
education of its children without resorting to legalized
gambling or gambling in any form.”
Friday was joined by the retired publisher of the Raleigh News
& Observer, Frank Daniels Jr., who cited statistics in a
magazine report that said states without a lottery spend a
greater percentage of their budgets on education than states
with lotteries. Daniels said the statistics prove a point
often heard from lottery opponents – that lottery states
become dependent on that revenue to support schools.
N.C. Retail Merchants Association President Fran Preston spoke
against a lottery on grounds that much of the estimated $1.35
billion that people would spend on lottery tickets would come
out of money usually spent on clothes and other items
purchased from retailers.
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