| Posted: December 13, 2006, 9:35 pm - IP Logged |
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A political hack gets the ax!
I am no longer a participating member here at Lottery Post but I do want to comment on this story. Hoosier Lottery Esther Schnieder is currently under investigation by The Indiana Inspector General's office for ethics violations. The charges include...among other things...paying prizes to holders of "expired" tickets to the now defunct Hoosier Millionaire game.
<>She also held a politcial fundraiser for Senator Richard Lugar in which she alledgedly used Hoosier Lottery staff to hold a drawing for Hoosier Lottery tickets in order to complie a list of possible political donors.<>
<>She has also been accused of using Hoosier Lottery employees to do her personal business and personal errands.
<>A complaint has also been filed against her with the EEOC by former Hoosier Lottery Legal Consol Shanna Sisler. whom she (Schneider) fired.<>
<>There are rumors of other misdeeds and wrong doings also floating around the net. It has been allegded that in addition to her misdeeds Schneider was hateful and mean spirited...screaming and yelling at Hoosier Lottery Employees in an attempt to bully them and intimate them into doing her will. She fired employees for any or no reason. In fact it is said that she actively sought to fire employees because she enjoyed it. The Hoosier Lottery is and for quite some time has been a cesspool of corruption.
If you believe the press reports and the blogers Schneider has done nothing but perpetuate the problems that infest the Hoosier Lottery. IMHO she deserves no credit for her smoke and mirror reforms that led to a record year in profits. (IMHO she has made the situation here in Indiana much worse [if you can believe that] than it already was.)
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Among her smoke and mirror reforms was to legthen the annuity time of the Hoosier Lottery 's Lotto game from 25 to 30 years without an increase in prize money. She reduced the amount of the Hooosier Lottery's cash payout from what was suppossed to be the actual amount of cash in the prize pool to a flat 40% cash payout. She also institutated a policy of not rolling over the Hoosier Lottery's Lotto game for the first 2 draws even if ther was no winner. In other words the jackpot stayed the same if no one won the first 2 draws regardles of the number of tickets sold or the amount of prize money accumulated.
I corresponded with Ms Schneider a couple of times by e-mail. She was not responsive to my concerns and was less than forthcoming in her answers. Indeed I found her to be quite confrontational
If you can follow these links they will provide you with some information regarding her contemptable behavior at the Hoosier Lottery. (I hope they work.) If not do a Google search and pay particular attention to a site called Taking down Words and to Ruth Holladay.
www.takingdownwords.com/taking_down_words/statehouse_dave_thomas/index.html
http://ruthholladay.com/?blog=1&page=1&dsp=posts&page=3
As for the situation getting any better with a new director? Well the latest rumor is that Governor Daniels is now trying to privatize the Hoosier Lottery so who knows. (The governors office refuse to confirm or deny this rumor and will only comment that, privatization "...will be good for Education.
"IMHO the situation can't get much worse. That's why I now boycott all Hoosier Lottery games. I will still play Powerball here in Indiana but I will not under any circumstances play any other Hoosier Lottery game.
As for the remark about ball drawings...Ms Schneider steadfastly refused to conduct ball drawings citing security reasons and cost savings. She has also steadfastly refused to broadcast any Hoosier Lottery drawings, again citing cost savings as the reason. I have no hope the the new director will reverse her policy.
So as for Esther herself...I say; GOOD BYE and...GOOD RIDDANCE!!!
Jim
NOTE: These political blogs change daily so you might have to hunt a bit to find the stories. Try paging down and if the stories aren't there look a couple of days prior.
Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy. - Groucho Marx