Halter proposes ballot vote on state lottery
- Oct 15, 2007 - comment
Despite the best efforts of Arkansas Baptists and others interested in moral issues, lottery proposals seem to keep popping up year after year.
Lt. Gov. Bill Halter announced Sept. 18 he hopes to put a proposal on the November 2008 ballot that would create a state-run lottery to raise funds for college scholarships.
Halter plans to submit a proposed constitutional amendment to the Attorney General’s office. If approved, he then would need to gather about 78,000 signatures to place the item on the 2008 ballot.
Larry Page, executive director of the Arkansas Faith And Ethics Council, will work with churches and other Christian groups to fight the proposal.
“We have faced this threat many times in the past,” Page said. “Arkansans have shown amazing common sense in rejecting lottery and casino gambling schemes. We now are confronted with the lottery menace again.”
Halter backed a proposed constitutional amendment to create a lottery that died in a legislative committee earlier this year. Advocacy groups complained that low-income individuals who purchase lottery tickets would fund scholarships for middle and upper income students.
Halter estimated his new lottery proposal would raise $100 million annually for scholarships for students to attend public and private accredited higher education institutions in the state.
“He (Halter) will attempt to do through the initiative process what members of the Arkansas legislature refused to do,” Page said. “He tried to convince legislators to put such an amendment before the people for their vote. They rejected his appeal, realizing that the lottery is a pathetically poor economic tool, the most regressive tax in use today and makes the state an economic predator of its weakest and most vulnerable citizens.”
Page noted Arkansas is one of only eight states without a state lottery.
“It underscores that we are in for the fight of our lives,” he said. “We enter this struggle knowing that the truth is on our side.”
Noting a grass roots network is essential, Page urged pastors and church members to step up to the challenge through prayer, financial resources, volunteer participation, voter registration drives and voter turnout. Citizens also can contact Halter at 501-682-2144 to express opposition to his lottery proposal.
“Anything short of a comprehensive, energetic and inspired effort will fail,” Page said.
The Arkansas Family Council says it also will oppose Halter’s lottery proposal. Council director Jerry Cox says a lottery takes money from the poorest people and provides false hope.
This article is reprinted from the October 4, 2007, issue of the Arkansas Baptist News, the newsjournal of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.
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