Fitzsimon File

By now you know that North Carolina is just Governor Mike Easley’s signature away from establishing a state-run lottery. The historic and tragic Senate vote came Tuesday afternoon after a tense morning of indecision from Republican Senator John Garwood, recovering from a leg infection in Wilkesboro, who was unable to make it to Raleigh for a Senate session that Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight had given his word would never be held.

When the Senate convened at 11:00 a.m. Garwood had arranged for his vote against the lottery to be counted using the Senate custom of pairing his vote with that of a lottery supporter. Senator Larry Shaw had agreed to be Garwood’s pair. That meant the lottery would fail in a 25-24 vote. Senator Harry Brown, another lottery opponent, was also absent, reportedly on his honeymoon. Brown had requested an excused absence but had not asked to pair his vote.

Shortly after the Senate convened, Republicans asked for a recess so they could meet privately. Garwood had apparently been persuaded by lottery supporters to change his mind and was no longer seeking to pair his vote. His vote would not be counted. The Senate voted an hour later and Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, clearly relishing the limelight, broke a 24-24 tie by voting yes and the lottery passed.

It’s hard to decide what is more troubling, the passage of the lottery or the process used to approve it. Basnight told Senators last week that the Senate would not take any more votes this session and would simply hold skeleton sessions until the House adjourned. With Brown on his honeymoon and Garwood ailing, Basnight changed his mind.

Governor Mike Easley was reportedly asking Democratic Senators who supported the lottery not to pair their vote with Garwood. Better to take advantage of an ailing Senator to make sure his vote doesn’t count than pass on the chance to get the state into the gambling business.

The Senate leadership also changed a longstanding legislative rule two weeks ago that allows any Senator to object to a final vote on legislation. The objection holds it over for another vote the next day. That rule change was made quietly, with little notice, but it means that lottery opponents could not force another vote on Wednesday.

Perdue defended the rule change and at one point told the Senate that she hopes they keep the rule it place, saying she finds that "it works pretty well." Limiting debate and manipulating the rules always works well if you are in the majority. Nothing like power if you are the one that has it.

The actual debate on the lottery was anti-climactic, with the packed Senate gallery waiting for the vote, though lottery opponents made the compelling arguments that are really not in dispute. The lottery is regressive, sends the wrong message to kids, preys on the poor, is an unreliable source of revenue for the state, and comes with no assurance that the money it raises won’t simply replace money already spent on education.

In a response to a question from Senator Neal Hunt, Senator Tony Rand admitted there was no way to ensure that lottery revenue would not supplant current education spending. Is it the education lottery or the supplantation lottery?

None of the five Democratic Senators who voted against the lottery spoke during the debate, giving the discussion a partisan flavor that detracted from the merits of the anti-lottery arguments. The debate also featured a level of hypocrisy on both sides that may be unprecedented in the legislative building, most of it around claims about the poor.

Republicans correctly pointed out that the lottery advertising preys on the poor, that the poor play the lottery more than the wealthy and the middle class, even that the lottery is a way to make the poor pay for an unwillingness to raise taxes on the middle class and the wealthy.

Yet most Republicans in the Senate want to reduce state services that benefit the poor and rail against tax increases to pay to expand programs that provide health care or child care subsidies for the poor they claim they want to protect from the predatory lottery.

Democrat Charlie Dannelly, a lottery supporter, challenged the Republicans’ concern for the poor, saying that if they really wanted to help people who are struggling, they would raise the state minimum wage. Dannelly is Deputy President Pro Tem of the Senate, part of the Democratic Senate leadership. That’s the leadership that has refused to consider a bill passed by the House that would raise the minimum wage.

Dannelly and his fellow Senate Democrats also approved a budget earlier in the session that reduced taxes on corporations and the wealthy and paid for it by cutting services to 65,000 people who are blind, aged, or disabled.

Even Basnight’s decision to break his word and hold Tuesday’s session and lottery vote is another slap in the face of the poor in the state. Basnight promised that Tuesday’s lottery session would be the last day Senators voted this session, effectively ending consideration of bills passed by the House including the minimum wage increase and a bonus for the lowest paid state employees. Senators can come back to town to pass a lottery, but the minimum wage hike will have to wait.

The decision to leave again means that there will be no study this year of the massive problems with the death penalty, no commission set up to figure out why North Carolina is among the nation’s leaders in illegal handgun trafficking.

There will be no attempt to amend legislation that would require clerks of court to tell domestic violence victims how to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon, a bill Governor Easley signed in a pathetic attempt to escape the wrath of the gun lobby. Easley promised when he signed the bill that lawmakers would fix it, but the lottery is all he really wanted lawmakers to do.

Easley gets the lottery. The poor get lip service and the chance to buy a gun.

It is fitting that the lottery is the last piece of legislation the General Assembly will pass this session. It has been a session of posturing and largely empty promises, the major accomplishment being that lawmakers did not make too many things worse.

It has also been a session where the legislative process has broken down, where rules have been changed, meetings have been closed, and bills have passed with provisions that lawmakers have had little chance to read, much less understand.

Senator Fred Smith read a quote during Tuesday’s lottery debate from something a Senator said about the issue years ago.

"The lottery is built on the backs of the poor. It exploits the people who can least afford it to benefit others who are better off. I can promise you that if North Carolina approves a statewide lottery, food will be taken off the plates of children across this state."

Those were the words of Senator Marc Basnight in an article in The Coast newspaper in 1990. They are truer today than ever. It is a sad day in North Carolina and a shameful performance by its General Assembly.

But it’s done and the lottery is in place. The fight for an honest, open government that helps improve the lives of the people in the state, rich and poor, continues and is more important than ever.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 31st, 2005 at 7:51 am and is filed under Fitzsimon File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.