The California Lottery admitted Monday they used a state official, who misrepresented herself as a freelance reporter, as an operative in the legal battle over constitutionality of the multistate Mega Millions game in California.
In other developments, lawmakers indicated they may reject confirmation of Lottery Commission appointees who voted for the game and disclosed they are planning to unveil a bill today to make Mega Millions legal here, despite the lottery's claim it has not broken the law.
The lottery's admission to the Oakland Tribune of unethical conduct in the growing furor came after accusations from attorneys opposing the lottery position on Mega Millions.
Attorneys representing an anti-gambling group, which filed a court challenge against Mega Millions as unconstitutional, claimed the lottery sent an agent and her assistant, pretending to be freelance reporters, to their Capitol news conference last week.
Asked about the allegation, lottery spokeswoman Rosa Escutia said, "Kim Smith did misrepresent herself as a freelance reporter. She works for the lottery as a special adviser."
Attorneys Nicholas Roxborough of Woodland Hills and Fred Jones of Sacramento said Smith and an assistant taped answers to many legal questions asked of their clients outside the attorneys' presence at the news conference without their clients being represented by their lawyers.
The attorneys are demanding the tapes be preserved as evidence and that copies be turned over, along with any related notes or memos to officials. If the lottery refuses, the attorneys threatened to seek a court order.
Escutia said the lottery has handed the matter over to its counsel, the state Attorney General's Office, which was not immediately available for comment.
"I can't comment on what her thinking was. That's a personnel issue. I'm sure it all will be handled appropriately," Escutia said.
Meanwhile, senators said, while they had been ready for routine approval of two of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Lottery Commission appointees, they now plan to grill the officials about accusations the game exceeds the authority granted in the voter-approved Lottery Act.
"I have a number of questions about why the commissioners felt they had the legal authority to join Mega Millions and why they think it's a good idea for California," said Sen. Debra Bowen, a Redondo Beach Democrat who sits on the Senate Rules Committee.
"The legal opinion provided to the Legislature says that by joining Mega Millions, the Commission violated the Lottery Act approved by the voters back in 1984. I want to hear the commissioners respond to that opinion and hear why they felt it was necessary to rush into this deal with very little public notice," Bowen said.
Commissioners Loretta Doon of Belmont, a former California Teachers Association official, and John Mass of Los Angeles, executive vice president of the William Morris Agency, Inc., were unavailable for comment.
Jones, representing the group suing the lottery said, "If their Senate confirmations get held up or blocked, they have no one to blame but themselves."
Escutia responded that "we're confident in our lottery's legal opinion and that of the Attorney General and we will continue to conduct business as usual as we work toward resolution of the suit."
In addition, Sen. Dean Florez, a Bakersfield area Democrat, said he will announce today he is introducing legislation to make the multistate Mega Millions legal.
"This measure could not only keep the state out of hot water legally, but it could provide the very boost to education that the Lottery Commission says it envisioned when it joined Mega Millions," Florez said.
"Rather than cannibalizing and existing game and causing funds to pour out of state, Mega Millions can still be turned into a positive for California's kids and schools," he said.
The lottery declined comment on the legislation.
Thanks to MegaHopeful for the tip.
I guess this proves it is easier to say I am sorry then it is to ask for permission.
I agree - had I been in charge I would have forged ahead as well. It will be hard to undo especially if they can point to a lot of additional $$$ going to CA as a result of joining Mega Millions. The longer they can keep selling tickets, the better their chances of staying in.
is the president of the MM or was i wonder what part he played in all of this and why he and the Calif. lottery directors didn't go through the proper channels to get this charter done. I can't believe that he and the California officials didn't make sure everything about calif. joining megamill was copasetic. I hope he doesn't get in trouble because of this, so far it seems he has done a good job keeping Maryland lottery and the mega millions game going. Despite the hasty changes to the game to compete with powerballs changes.
"Kill 'em all and let God sort them out!", used to be a popular tattoo and teeshirt slogan among Special Forces troops during the early phases of Vietnam. This appears to be the legislative manifestation of that philosophy.
Seems to be working as well in California as it did in Vietnam.
Jack
I wished that CA wins the lawsuit and doesn't play Mega Millions anymore.
I wished that CA wins the lawsuit and doesn't play Mega Millions anymore.
You might actually be able to resist playing it, yourself, if you're opposed to Mega Millions. But why you'd wish to deprive adults living in California from choosing to spend their money on Mega Millions if they wish, is a bit of a reach.
Care to explain why you want to keep adults from making whatever choices they wish about how to spend their money?
Jack
I guess this proves it is easier to say I am sorry then it is to ask for permission.
Since Just6ntlc has repeated his/her statement on this without addressing my previous message, I'll just repeat my message.
My guess would be that Just6ntlc is either a Democrat who is supporting his party's wacko position on this, or is just trolling the forums (one who posts something just to be argumentative and pick fights).
My reasoning is that Just6ntlc has previously posted very positive messages about Mega Millions, so this is not consistent with those previous messages:
Just6ntlc may be too young to play the lotteries, he/she doesn't sound like any Democrat that I know. But then I could be wrong because some of my friends are Republicans and I never knew until they ran in the local elections and asked for my support.
RJOh
Since Just6ntlc has repeated his/her statement on this without addressing my previous message, I'll just repeat my message.
My guess would be that Just6ntlc is either a Democrat who is supporting his party's wacko position on this, or is just trolling the forums (one who posts something just to be argumentative and pick fights).
My reasoning is that Just6ntlc has previously posted very positive messages about Mega Millions, so this is not consistent with those previous messages:
He/she's evidently a lottery player, also one who reads the blogs. I had the chat room loaded yesterday for a while, hadn't said much except hello a few times, goodbye a few others. Just6ntlc messaged me about the three numbers I'd gotten on the last PB draw, said he/she got the same ones. I'd made reference to it on my blog, but not in the chatroom.
I can't go so far as to suggest I understood what the person was trying to communicate in the rest of the message, but it was plain he/she was into lottery playing enough to predict three numbers successfully for Powerball, and enough of a participant in this site to be darting around reading the blogs of unsuccessful and relatively obscure predictors.
Some people just tend to think a lot more quickly than they write..... the internet's a tempting place in that regard.... a person thinks a page, writes a sentence, and it makes sense because it's all thought out from his/her point of view. Problem is that it's akin to getting a telegram in limey English when it comes to a reader understanding it.
Might be something as simple as that.
Jack
July..12th.....7:15pm...est
.........................And Good evening to all my Fellow Happy Gamblers.......I'm a "Centrist Demo" and I still don't understand all this "much ado about nothing"...Yes, I have read the articles, but "CALI" is one of the 5 LARGEST & MOST POPULATED STATES in the Union.....that adds up to more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ than any "CALI DEMO" can imgaine, and they need all the money and votes they can get prior to 2006..........It just seems to me (to stay on topic)heheehehe, that the more "Happy MM Gamblers" CALI has the greater the support for the DEMO ticket in 2006-2008.
July..12th.....7:15pm...est
.........................And Good evening to all my Fellow Happy Gamblers.......I'm a "Centrist Demo" and I still don't understand all this "much ado about nothing"...Yes, I have read the articles, but "CALI" is one of the 5 LARGEST & MOST POPULATED STATES in the Union.....that adds up to more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ than any "CALI DEMO" can imgaine, and they need all the money and votes they can get prior to 2006..........It just seems to me (to stay on topic)heheehehe, that the more "Happy MM Gamblers" CALI has the greater the support for the DEMO ticket in 2006-2008.
Yes, I have read the articles, but "CALI" is one of the 5 LARGEST & MOST POPULATED STATES in the Union.....that adds up to more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ than any "CALI DEMO" can imgaine
Libra:
"Cali Demos" are probably too busy imigraining how to get themselves located outside Cali to spend a lot of time trying to imigraine how many dollar signs you put into that sentence.
Jack
Since Just6ntlc has repeated his/her statement on this without addressing my previous message, I'll just repeat my message.
My guess would be that Just6ntlc is either a Democrat who is supporting his party's wacko position on this, or is just trolling the forums (one who posts something just to be argumentative and pick fights).
My reasoning is that Just6ntlc has previously posted very positive messages about Mega Millions, so this is not consistent with those previous messages:
He/she's evidently a lottery player, also one who reads the blogs. I had the chat room loaded yesterday for a while, hadn't said much except hello a few times, goodbye a few others. Just6ntlc messaged me about the three numbers I'd gotten on the last PB draw, said he/she got the same ones. I'd made reference to it on my blog, but not in the chatroom.
I can't go so far as to suggest I understood what the person was trying to communicate in the rest of the message, but it was plain he/she was into lottery playing enough to predict three numbers successfully for Powerball, and enough of a participant in this site to be darting around reading the blogs of unsuccessful and relatively obscure predictors.
Some people just tend to think a lot more quickly than they write..... the internet's a tempting place in that regard.... a person thinks a page, writes a sentence, and it makes sense because it's all thought out from his/her point of view. Problem is that it's akin to getting a telegram in limey English when it comes to a reader understanding it.
Might be something as simple as that.
Jack
Jack,
I hear ya, but this doesn't make any sense. Check this out: https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/.asp?tp=115269&p=2#i403078
(You may have to go back to page 1 of the thread if you have increased your number of posts per page.)
The first message says it should be sold there, the very next one says no. The "no" came after he saw the Democrat's lawsuit, so it's my educated guess that he's a staunch Democrat, putting politics before the love of the game.
In my experience, it's good to stand on principle, rather than party.
I see your point.
Jack