AG rejects lawmaker's gambling amendment
LITTLE ROCK - A state legislator who names himself the first president of a state-run gambling operation in a proposed constitutional amendment had the measure rejected Wednesday by the state attorney general.
Attorney General Mike Beebe issued an opinion saying the text of the proposal left too many unanswered questions.
The attorney general rejected the popular name and ballot title of the proposal that state Rep. Charles Ormond, D-Morrilton, submitted as an initiative for the 2006 general election after the Legislature rejected it as one of the three measures that lawmakers can refer to the ballot.
Beebe's opinion said the measure "leaves unclear certain fundamental issues that will be of concern to the voters." It said the attorney general's office could not make additions or changes to the popular name and ballot title to fairly or completely summarize the effect of the measure without resolution of the ambiguities, Beebe's opinion said.
"I guess I'll have to come up with some language that the attorney general will be happy with," Ormond said.
Ormond's proposal would amend the state constitution to establish a state-owned and operated corporation to regulate charitable bingo, a state lottery and gambling houses in counties that voted to host them.
No public vote would be necessary in Garland and Crittenden counties, where pari-mutuel tracks already operate, but state-run wagering would be conducted by contractual arrangements with the tracks.
The governor would appoint corporation directors from each of the four congressional districts, and the directors would hire the president of the corporation. The proposed amendment specifically names Ormond as the corporation's first president.
"There's got to be a first," he explained Wednesday. "Who's putting this thing together? Who's going out and taking the grief for trying to bring something to the people of Arkansas?"
He said he would spearhead an effort to gather up to 100,000 signatures by July 2006 to certify the measure for the ballot.
The three-term lawmaker is prohibited by term limits from seeking re-election. He said his proposal would generate 20,000 new jobs and after eight years of operation would bring in $1 billion in new revenue annually to the state.
It would stem what he said is a $400 million flow of Arkansans' money to casinos in bordering states.
A number of gambling amendments have been stricken from the ballot by the state Supreme Court as misleading over the past decade, and measures that did make the ballot were soundly defeated by voters.