In N.C., Scandal Arrives Before New State Lottery

[waiting for hope]

I knew it would only cause more problems then it's worth.....



By Mark Johnson
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, December 30, 2005; Page A02

RALEIGH, N.C. -- When North Carolina's legislature relented from its decades-long opposition to a state lottery this summer, preachers and conservative lawmakers warned that wherever gambling goes, scandal follows.

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North Carolina, which until now was one of the few states without a lottery, will not begin its games until spring, but already state and federal criminal investigations are looking into whether the measure's passage was tainted by corruption.

State House Speaker Jim Black (D) is in the midst of a controversy over his role and that of a top aide who turned out to be working for a firm hoping to land the contract to run the lottery. Black has been compiling boxes of documents that have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury examining how the lottery won approval.

Three of the nine lottery commissioners, meanwhile, resigned within a month of their appointments. One stepped down two days before testifying to the grand jury, and another bowed out after it was revealed that he received $24,500 from the same firm that hired the speaker's aide.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/29/AR2005122901304.html?sub=new

When will they ever learn that when a ton of money is involved, every rat will come out of the sewer.....

I'm against gambling - used to live in Louisiana and never saw any good come out of it except special interest groups getting their pockets lined..I realized Democrats in NC supported this but I can't for the life of me understand how anyone can support something that can trigger such a horrible addiction and ruin lives..eom