Monday, May 22, 2006
What If the Raid’s on the Lottery?
On Friday, the Chicago Tribune dropped the suggestion that the Lottery may be the source of the money with which Governor Rod Blagojevich bought off the Rev. and State Senator James Meeks.
But, you say, money from the Lottery already goes to education.
Yes, it does. So the question arises of what accelerating Lottery revenues by selling it to a private gambling firm would do…in the long run.
One could get big money up front, the same way many states did by selling future Tobacco Settlement collections. But those states needed to accept less upftont in order clinch the deal.
A similar discount would undoubtedly be necessary if the Lottery were sold to private interests.
State Rep. Zeke Giorgi pre-sold the Lottery as being for education, but it was not passed until it became the source of money for the General Fund’s subsidy of the Regional Transportation Authority. (Reviews of the Lottery’s history usually forget this fact.)
In the 1980’s Zeke’s pitch was finally made law when legislators got tired of explaining why Lottery proceeds didn’t go to education. Of course, that got no additional money for schools, because an equal amount of previously General Fund receipts was spent elsewhere.
So, what happens if the Democrats sell this stream of revenue for the current benefit of getting re-elected?
Put simply, it means that Governor Rod Blagojevich will have put another cliff in the path of future politicians in order to obtain a short-term political benefit for himself.
This year’s windfall would turn into some future year’s budgetary free fall.
For more McHenry County Blog, click here.
But, you say, money from the Lottery already goes to education.
Yes, it does. So the question arises of what accelerating Lottery revenues by selling it to a private gambling firm would do…in the long run.
One could get big money up front, the same way many states did by selling future Tobacco Settlement collections. But those states needed to accept less upftont in order clinch the deal.A similar discount would undoubtedly be necessary if the Lottery were sold to private interests.
State Rep. Zeke Giorgi pre-sold the Lottery as being for education, but it was not passed until it became the source of money for the General Fund’s subsidy of the Regional Transportation Authority. (Reviews of the Lottery’s history usually forget this fact.)
In the 1980’s Zeke’s pitch was finally made law when legislators got tired of explaining why Lottery proceeds didn’t go to education. Of course, that got no additional money for schools, because an equal amount of previously General Fund receipts was spent elsewhere.
So, what happens if the Democrats sell this stream of revenue for the current benefit of getting re-elected?
Put simply, it means that Governor Rod Blagojevich will have put another cliff in the path of future politicians in order to obtain a short-term political benefit for himself.
This year’s windfall would turn into some future year’s budgetary free fall.
For more McHenry County Blog, click here.
