SURRPRIIIIIZE, SURRPRIIIIIZE, SURRPRIIIIIZZZE! (As Gomer Pyle used to say). After promising that the SEATTLE Mariners could be painlessly supported by lottery tickets, it now seems that WE HAVE TO ROB THE STATE GENERAL FUND TO PAY FOR SEATTLES LUXURY STADIUM!

(http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/00/1/21/12016462.htm) OLYMPIA -- Sales of scratch-ticket lottery games that help cover the cost of Safeco Field are striking out. The sports-themed tickets are supposed to raise $89 million over 20 years as part of the Seattle Mariners stadium financing package approved by the Legislature in 1995. Ticket sales met annual goals in 1997 and 1998, but fell $739,293 short last year, forcing the Washington Lottery Commission to make up the difference with revenues that were meant for the state's general operating fund. On Thursday, lottery officials asked lawmakers to give the agency the flexibility to expand the use of scratch games and even use money from other games to meet annual payments for the baseball stadium. Bob Benson, deputy director of the Lottery Commission, said Senate Bill 6143 would protect state taxpayers from having to contribute more toward the ballpark. "Sports-theme tickets do not sell well anywhere in the country," Benson explained to members of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Now this deal was brought to us by the same coalition that were mobilized AGAINST 695. Let aside for a moment the fact that lotteries take money from those LEAST able to afford to lose it (Why is it that when I want to keep MY money Im being selfish, but when the Seattle political establishment wants to suck the poor dry through running numbers, they are being public spirited?) . What we are seeing here is a transfer of wealth from the general fund (I will not tap the general fund for transportation money, says the guv, thatd be stealing from the schools, FROM THE CHILDREN) to a commercial outfit, and of course to Seattle.

Time to stop believing the self-serving propaganda that these guys give out.

-- Mike Alworth (m_alworth@olmpusnet.com), January 21, 2000

Answers

Gambling is so bad that the government funds gambling addict programs. Also, the government has decided that private citizens shouldn't be able manage gambling. But, if the government wants to gamble, well then it's ok.

Someone hit me with a cluestick please.

-- Jeremy Rule (jrule@yahoo.com), January 21, 2000.

IT'S FOR THE CHILDREN! (Also the Native Americans, the schools, the Mariners, and the Seahawks)

-- Mark Stilson (mark842@hotmail.com), January 21, 2000.