N.C. Senate Passes Lottery Bill

RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina is no longer the only state along the East Coast that does not have a lottery. Senators passed the measure Tuesday by one vote.

Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, brought up the bill for consideration about 1:15 p.m. Senate leader Marc Basnight told WRAL he called senators back to Raleigh because he thought the votes were there to pass a lottery.

I suspect that it's a leftover from when Dems were patriotic and truly populist. Old habits die hard, especially in the South, but it does begin to look like recognizing who gets the power if local moderate Dems are elected (it ain't local moderate Dems, even if they do get re-elected for decades).

And of course, the creeping Marxism of Northern and Western DemocraticParty members is infecting the locals as well.

This proposal is simply saying "Hey, everybody around us are losing their minds. We need to lose ours, too. We don't want to look different."

It's just a dumb idea, with the added fillip of institutionalizing immorality. Just what a religious red state does not need.

Thanks for reading,
Beleg

What's next for the N.C. lottery

The Associated Press
August 30, 2005 5:41 pm

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Here's a quick look at what will happen next for the North Carolina lottery, which received final legislative approval Tuesday:

BILL SIGNING: Democratic Gov. Mike Easley will sign the bill into law Wednesday.
LOTTERY COMMISSION: The governor, the Senate president pro tempore and House speaker will appoint the nine members of the North Carolina State Lottery Commission. The commission will hire a director, who with approval of the commission, can hire an outside firm to operate the games.
ADVERTISING: The commission must set advertising rules for games that can't "intentionally target specific groups or economic classes" and can't present the lottery as a way for a person to get out from under their economic or personal problems. Advertising also can't directly urge people to participate and must include information on responsible gambling. Advertising spending is capped at 1 percent of annual revenues.
FIRST GAMES: Scratch-off games may be available within six or seven months, said Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland. Numerical games would follow. The commission will decide which kind of games will be offered. With the commission's OK, the director can enter the North Carolina lottery into multistate agreements such as Powerball or Mega Millions.
REVENUE SPLIT: At least 50 percent of total annual revenues would go toward prizes and at least 35 percent toward education initiatives. No more than 8 percent can go toward lottery administrative and advertising expenses and no more than 7 percent for lottery retailers. Expenses include $1 million set aside annually for gambling education and treatment programs.
NET PROCEEDS: Easley administration officials estimate that a lottery will generate $400 million in net proceeds annually. Half of the money would go to class-size reduction in early grades and to expand pre-kindergarten programs for at-risk children. Forty percent would go toward local public school construction. Ten percent would go for college scholarships of up to $4,000 annually for students in low-income families.
WINNINGS: Winners of less than $600 can receive their prizes at lottery retail outlets. The commission redeems prizes of at least $600. Daily drawings will be public and can be recorded for television or radio.
AUDITS: Security audits will be performed annually. The state auditor also will conduct annual audits. A performance audit will be performed every two years.

Here is a link that may answer you question,

http://www.carolinajournal.com/jhdailyjournal/display_jhdailyjournal.html?id=1923

You must understand for all intensive purposes there is no Republican caucus in the NC House. Yes there are 57 members in the house who are Republicans, but they do not caucus together on a regular basis because of infighting. The infighting has gotten so bad that in 2004 the GOP spent more time recruiting candidates to unseat Republicans in the primary then Democrats in the General Election. The power is given to minority Leader Joe Kiser and Speaker Pro-Tem Richard Morgan, they represent the more moderate faction of the party. The conservative are lead by former minority leader Leo Daughtry, who was unseated as the GOP leader in 2003, the current Republican leadership has refused to grant Daughtry and some of his followers a real office or any paid staff. Anything these Representatives get comes from the Democrats not from there own. These members who the leadership has written out tend to be the more conservative of the group.

As for the 2004 Governors race, the GOP had things go so bad the the then State party chairman, Bill Cobey, who supposed to find a good candidate, declared all the announced candidates could not win and he resigned and ran himself. Cobey lost the primary but the damage was done and the party was unable to recover.

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