Fitzsimon File

Another banner week for the North Carolina Exploitation Lottery. The Lottery Commission couldn't seem to decide on how much to predict the lottery would raise next year, so commission members finally settled on $1.27 billion because it would mean that the state would net $386 million, which not so coincidentally is the amount state budget writers need to pay for lottery-funded programs.

That is some expert economic forecasting there, basing revenue projections on what you need them to be, ignoring economic realities. If the lottery meets the revenue projections, it will be the first time.

Commission member Max Cogburn wasn't too thrilled with the revenue estimates. The News & Observer quotes Cogburn saying "at some point, people are going to go with bread and milk instead of lottery tickets."  

Well maybe, but not if the lottery advertising folks can help it.

Lottery officials are also pressing to sell tickets in vending machines in Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Sam's Club, Costco, and Rite-Aid and other big chain stores.  Why should the choice be limited to lottery tickets or bread and milk?

Now struggling consumers can respond to lottery ads that tell them they can strike it rich by choosing lottery tickets over medicine or diapers for their kids.

And it turns out that the staff at the lottery commission will receive a five percent raise next fiscal year, well above the likely increase for most state employees.

Lottery Director Tom Shaheen says that state workers who want more money should apply at the lottery commission. He is the quite the team player.

He also says that the raises are necessary to keep good employees. Wonder why that doesn't apply to the health techs in mental hospitals or probation and parole officers or a host of other state workers that provide services everyday?

Jeff Taylor with the Meck Deck blog of the John Locke Foundation is quickly establishing himself as the Michael Savage of the right-wing blogosphere in the state.

Savage recently played a song by the group "The Dead Kennedys" on his nationally syndicated radio show after hearing that Senator Ted Kennedy had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.

Taylor hasn't gone quite that disgustingly far, though last week he wrote about how much he hated Governor Mike Easley and called him a tiny, mendacious man.

This week Taylor is fuming about the passage of the troublesome anti-gang legislation by the Senate. Despite creating new felonies and lengthening sentences, it is not tough enough for Taylor who calls it a smokescreen for more "urban social spending," code words worthy of a diatribe by Savage or Rush Limbaugh.

Taylor then laments that people would expect anything else from legislators, who he refers to as "those crooks in Raleigh." Taylor asks "what did you think they would do? Why would they respond to public concerns over crime?"

Finally, he is upset with Charlotte Mayor and Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory for being in Raleigh to try to claim credit for the legislation, saying McCrory (who he refers to as Pat) should have "blasted" the bill and then walked off like Newt Gingrich did years ago in response to a budget proposal by President George Bush, Sr.

The gang bill is bad public policy, but what about the chance that McCrory, clearly Taylor's candidate of choice, actually might support it? And does Taylor really believe that legislative leaders are all crooks who don't care about crime? 

And people think the policy debate has reached new lows.

Lowe's Motor Speedway President Humpy Wheeler announced his retirement this week and though NASCAR news doesn't usually find its way into the Follies, Wheeler's departure is big news in North Carolina.

His decision to leave the speedway means that another colorful name will be missing from the headlines. Not too many other Humpys make news very often.

Two years ago Hootie Johnson stepped down as the head of Augusta National Golf Club, the site of the Masters tournament.

In the mid 1990s, Fred Grandy, who played Gopher on TV's Love Boat, was a member of Congress from his native Iowa. Then there was Ben Jones, who ran for Congress from Georgia in 1994 against Jeff Taylor's hero Newt Gingrich. Jones played Cooter Davenport on The Dukes of Hazard.

Added to Wheeler's announcement this week, it means that Humpy, Hootie, Gopher and Cooter have left or are leaving public life. Seems like worth noting. Or not. Happy Memorial Day.

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Fitzsimon File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.