Insider Buzz: N.D. lawmaker quits anti-lottery group
The North Dakota Senate's top officer has quit a lottery opposition group, saying it has become too partisan.
"No Lottery 2000 Inc. has become closely affiliated with ambitious Republican politicians who are exploiting the lottery debate by attempting to convert the issue into one that is partisan," Senate President Pro Tem John Drummond, D-Ninety Six, wrote to the group's chairwoman, Kathy Bigham.
Mr. Drummond said he would continue to oppose the lottery that the Democratic Party's leadership and Gov. Jim Hodges are pushing.
He urged other elected officials to quit the No Lottery 2000 effort and join "a nonpartisan effort to defeat the proposal for a state-run lottery."
Republicans have tried to redefine the lottery as a partisan issue to attack Democrats, Mr. Drummond said.