Texas Lottery: Texas Gov. expects panel to correct lottery problems

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Texas Gov. Rick Perry expects the three-member panel that oversees the Texas lottery to "get that agency straightened out" during next week's closed-door meeting on whether to replace the top executives, the governor's spokesman said Thursday.

"The governor is obviously concerned when any branch of the state government doesn't level with the taxpayers of Texas," deputy press secretary Robert Black said. "Honesty is important to the public trust."

Black said Perry was troubled by reports that lottery executives had inflated the value of the advertised jackpot during the June 8 drawing. But he said the governor would not weigh in publicly on whether Executive Director Reagan Greer or other top managers should be dismissed.

"Suffice it to say that the governor has faith that his appointees to the Lottery Commission will take the appropriate actions to not only get that agency straightened out but to make sure that the public's confidence is restored," Black said.

Greer has taken responsibility for approving the inflated jackpot advertisement for the June 8 drawing — and for at least three others — even though it was clear that ticket sales would not support the jackpot amounts.

The oversight panel plans to meet Monday to discuss privately whether Greer should be disciplined or dismissed and whether at least five other top executives should be reassigned.

Since word of the jackpot inflation leaked out last month, one of the top lottery officials who signed off on the matter has been dismissed. Lee Deviney, the former lottery financial administration director, said he was let go after notifying his supervisors that he had had second thoughts on the recommendation.

At a legislative hearing last week, several lottery officials testified that Deviney's dismissal was unrelated to the jackpot flap, but their testimony was greeted with skepticism. Deviney said in an interview that he was never given a reason for his firing but that he suspected it was related to the jackpot controversy.

Since last week's hearing, several former Lottery Commission employees have contacted some of the lawmakers involved, saying that they, too, were let go without being given a reason. Greer, meanwhile, has asked the state auditor's office to conduct an independent analysis of the lottery's handling of employee dismissals since November.

State Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, R-Tomball, said he is troubled by both the jackpot controversy and the circumstances of Deviney's dismissal. He sent a letter to the head of the lottery oversight panel asking for a closer examination of the agency's operations.