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Weekly UpdatesWHAT'S THE MOST SOUGHT-after job in Arkansas right w? Apparently its the post of executive director of the Arkansas Lottery Commission.
Ray Thornton, chairman of the commission, said last week that he had 70 applications for the position. And that's not counting Tom Courtway, the interim president of the University of Central Arkansas, who has withdrawn his application.
That maximum annual compensation of $354,000 for the director's job may have something to do with its popularity.
We have made our opposition to state-run lotteries plain many times. The voters, however, have spoken. Now it's the commission's job to run the lottery right.
The commission hopes to have a director in place by July 1 and to start the lottery, which will fund scholarships so more Arkansas students can attend college, by the end of the year.
Late last year, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who led the drive for the lottery, provided a list of principles to help create and guide the commission. In it, he said the commission "should hire an experienced lottery director with a proven record of success."
Arkansas has a history of hiring the good o1' boy, the person related to so-and-so who has donated to such-and-such. We hope, instead, that the commission will heed Halter's advice.
Apparently, Thornton is leaning that way. Last week, he said, "I am growing toward the view that lottery experience is very important." If the other commissioners agree, that would pretty much rule out any Arkansan from landing the job.
The state is expected to net some $100 million to $125 million a year from the lottery. Such responsibility requires someone who not only knows how to run it, but to run it honestly and not be beholden to some patron for his job.
Surely qualified people have applied, although Thornton last week said that he was displeased that of the 55 applications he had reviewed so far, only four or five had previous lottery experience and even those did not hold top-level positions.
The commission needs to move quickly to get the lottery up and running, but there's just as great a need to proceed with caution when choosing a director. May the commission choose wisely.
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