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Arkansas Angry Over High Lottery Salaries - 07-23-09 |
July 23 - Citizens in the U.S. state of Arkansas are currently up-in-arms after reports surfaced recently disclosing the enormous salaries being paid to top executives belonging to the Arkansas lottery program, including lottery director Ernie Passailaigue, who is reportedly earning a salary of $324,000 a year.
Amongst Arkansas concerned citizens, is Governor Mike Beebe, who told reporters last week that he is shocked at how much the lottery executives are being paid. 'In my opinion, the enormous nature of the salaries being paid to some Arkansas lottery executives will undermine public confidence in our lottery.'
While Passailaigue is the top dog in terms of earning power, two of his top assistants do not seem to be complaining about their respective $250,000 annual salaries. In response to the allegations of greed, Passailaigue justified the pay checks by talking about college scholarships generated by the Arkansas lottery.
According to the lottery director, the Arkansas lottery raises $250,000 a year for scholarships to Arkansas' public universities. However, the connection between scholarships and the enormous salaries was lost on many, particularly those who feel that lottery salaries are paid out of money spent by the people.
Putting the Arkansas lottery execs in an even worse light was the comparison between them and the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Despite collecting $15 million a day in taxes, the combined salaries of department director Richard Weiss and Governor Beebe add up to less than Passailaigue's.
As a result of the public outcry as well as considerable pressure from Governor Beebe, on Wednesday last week the Arkansas Lottery Commission voted to review the salary packages of all newly hired Arkansas lottery executives. In fact, the commission voted 6-2 to review new lottery salaries of $80,000 or more.
Said Joe White, one of the lottery's nine commissioners, 'I think you could interpret that and I'm speaking for myself to mean that there is some disagreement on some of the salaries. But if we set this thing up right and get it going it will mean scholarships over the next decades for tens of thousands of people.'
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| | 2009/07/24 05:27:37 AM |
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