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Kimberly Kiplin Dear Kimberly: I would really like for you to explain to me why the Retailers attended the April 13 Commissioners meeting to comment on the proposed changes rather than to comment at the official Comment hearing on April 19 - the official date posted where all interested parties were to comment. I thought the rule was to post the changes on the Texas Register, then accept written comments for 30 days and oral comments would be heard at the Public Comment hearing. Then Counsel would summarize all the information and submit it to the Commissioners. The Commissioners would then vote on the issue based on findings from Counsel. There was one sentence in an email I received from you on April 10 at 5:40 p.m. that I thought was a little strange. The sentence read, "Further, people may offer comment at the April 13, 2000 Texas Lottery Commission meeting." Upon reading this statement, I pulled the agenda I had previously printed off the TLC's web site regarding this meeting. As I'm sure you are aware, there was no mention of hearing comments from the people nor was there notice of hearing from 22 retailers on that agenda either. I then searched for press releases alerting players that they could be heard by the Commissioners on April 13 too, but I found none. I also checked the local newspapers but found nothing. Are rules changing to accommodate the needs and strategies of the Commission? Is this considered fair notice to the People? Since I was given 2 days notice but no notice was given to the people that they could speak to the Commissioners on April 13, does this mean that we can have 22+ players and/or retailers attend the next Commissioners meeting and express our views regarding the proposed changes prior to the Commissioners voting too? If yes, I can assure you we can and will have players in attendance. It appears to me that the Commission has placed itself in a precarious situation by pitting the players against the retailers to get this proposed plan approved. At least my plan of action drew the players in with the retailers and simply placed everyone against the Commission which the Commission could have easily overcome by simply taking care of the retailers. This alone would have increase sales. How the Commission handles this situation will be very interesting to say the least. I'm planning to send all three Commissioners a package but I saw where Commissioner Sadberry sent some letters he received from players back to the Commission unopened. Are the Commissioners not allowed to speak or hear from the people now? Are their decisions, regarding Lottery matters, to be based solely on what they are told by the Commission? I would appreciate a response to my questions and concerns. My new Lotto Report comes out tomorrow (Monday, 4-24-00) so I will be out more than I will be in for the next 3 days. I will be running stores. If you want to talk to me for any reason, my mobile number is ??. I also plan to be in Austin on Thursday so if I have time, I may see you then. I hope you and your family had a nice Easter. Sincerely,
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Ms. Dawn Nettles The Lotto Report P. O. Box 495033 Garland, Texas 75049-5033 Dear Ms. Nettles: I received your letter inquiring about the Commission receiving public comment on the proposed amendments to the Lotto Texas rule at its April 13, 2000 Commssion meeting and inquiring about the rulemaking process. The April 13, 2000 Commission meeting was noticed and conducted in accordance with the Texas Open Meeting Act. I refer you to Texas Government Code, Chapter 551, Open Meetings, for a review of its provisions. With regard to your questions concerning the rulemaking process, you may want to review the provisions of Texas Government Code, Chapter 2001, Administrative Procedure and Pratice Act, specifically, Subchapter B, Rulemaking, for a complete understanding of the rulemaking process required to be conducted by an administrative agency. With regard to your question regarding whether the Commission will receive comment at the next Commission meeting, I am not in a position to speculate as to whether the Commission will receive comment. However, I can assure you the Commisssion will conduct all its meetings, including the next meeting, in accordance with the Texas Open Meeting Act. As to your statements regarding the manner in which Commissioner Sadberry treats correspondence addressed to him in his capacity as a Lottery Commissioner, Commissioner Sadberry, in an abundance of caution, has put safegrards in place in order to avoid a potential ex parte communication. However, Commissioner Sadberry, as well as other Commissioners, is accessible generally to the public. Your comment regarding in what position you believe the Commission has placed itself does not merit a response at this time. However, you should not construe my silence to be either agreement or disagreement with your statements. Thank you for your interest in the Texas Lottery. Sincerely, Kimberly L. Kiplin cc: Chair Clowe Kimberly, Just for the record ... There was no doubt in my mind that you did not do everything according to the "law." However, I'm not certain that I believe the Commission acted in a manner that was "fair" to the people of Texas with this stunt!
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Dear Commissioner Clowe: It is well known that I am opposed to the addition of 4 balls to Lotto Texas. I am opposed because I do not believe it is necessary to add 4 balls to increase Lotto sales. In fact, I believe the Lottery will lose players and retailers as did California and New York when they added 4 balls to their games. When players lose all the time, they eventually quit playing and that is “one” of the reasons for the decline in sales. Do you remember the story about the little boy who wanted to do something so he asked his mother for permission, but his mother said no. The little boy was determined, so he went to his dad and asked for permission and his dad said yes - so the little boy got his way. But later, as a result, mom and dad crossed paths. This is how I view the Commissions recent actions regarding the proposed changes. Since the players said “No” 6 months ago, it appears that the Commission decided to approach retailers, and only retailers, for approval this time. I feel this plan has placed the Commission in a most precarious situation, as it pitted the players against the retailers. I am troubled by this action. To reach the “People,” one press release was issued on March 14 and notice was posted on the TLC’s web site. That is, until the day I instigated press coverage on April 12. But, to reach Retailers, the Commission asked the Texas Association of Lottery Retailers (TALR), Rick Johnson, to help spread the word among the Retailers so they could comment too. As I understand it, TALR decided the best way to get comments - fast - was to send a “survey” to their 213 members. Then, according to Rick Johnson, the Commission contacted him again to say that GTech was willing to assist him. Rick said he agreed to accept GTech’s help - so, as a result - surveys were mailed out by TALR to its own membership but GTech hand delivered, mailed and faxed surveys to all the other retailers. (I’ve heard all ways mentioned) Rick Johnson said he received, in his office, approximately 150 surveys back by fax and by mail. And Mr. Larry King, General Manager of GTech, personally delivered approximately 3500 surveys to Rick’s office. According to Rick, Mr. King told him that GTech received their surveys back by fax, by mail and finally, by having GTech’s Reps picking them up. Mr. Johnson explained to me that he accepted Mr. King’s verbal count but did not tally the surveys himself. Now, as I was going through documents that I received from Open Records, I found a copy of a follow up letter that was mailed on April 4 by GTech to a retailer asking them to please respond to the survey. Additionally, I found documentation where phone calls were also made to retailers for the same purpose. Yet, in all my papers that I received from Open Records, there were only two surveys. I must say, I’m truly impressed by the effort put forth by GTech to get comments from Retailers .... I can’t help but wonder why the same effort wasn’t put forth to get comments from Texans - TLC’s customers - after all - we’re the ones who play the games. I also wondered how it is that so many surveys were brought in by GTech when Retailers were specifically told to, “fax or return to, or call (??), or email responses directly to TALR.” I wondered why, since phone calls can’t count, it was even stated in the survey to call. According to Kimberly Kiplin, to be included in the rule making record, written comments must be received by email, fax or US Mail. I always figured the reason was for proof of authenticity. This is why I direct players to send their comments directly to the Commission and why the petitions I designed include a name, an address, a city, a zip code and finally, a signature - they can all be verified. Yet, I noticed, so many of the surveys only had a store name and an illegible signature. There’s literally no way to verify authorship of most of them. Commissioners, I want to point out that these surveys contained erroneous information. (And Mr. Johnson quickly points out that he received all information from the Commission!) At any rate, the Retailers were told that “similar changes were recently adopted for lotteries in New York and Florida and brought marked increases in sales.” The truth is, last March 1999, New York lowered its balls from 54 to 51. I noticed the survey didn’t mention that this same plan failed in California either. Isn’t this called “lying by omission?” The survey failed to point out specifically the increase from only $100 to $105 for players matching 4 of 6 numbers. The statement, “will bolster every prize category” leads Retailers to believe that payouts will increase significantly. Again, invaluable information was omitted. I contacted the Florida lottery and they report by phone a 30% increase in sales since adding 4 balls and increasing their drawings to twice weekly. But I can’t help but wonder why Florida’s sales didn’t double since they draw twice a week now instead of once a week? I ask you, do you really think the retailers had sufficient and correct information to base and cast votes? My tally as of Sunday, April 30: 3384+ verifiable people told the Commission, “NO, do not add 4 balls.” The TLC received 17 comments in favor of the changes and, as I understand from Rick Johnson, 88% of the 3800 surveys in by April 13 were in favor of these changes. Since I do not have these documents, I can not verify the count myself but I will prior to the Commissioners meeting on May 12. Commissioners, if you would take the time to sit down and read the thousands of letters and emails the Commission has received from the People, and if you would look closely at the context of the surveys, you would definitely vote “No” to the proposed changes. And, if the TLC would address the problems it already has instead of creating new ones, the issue of larger jackpots would be a thing of the past and everyone would be happy. I trust you will vote with the Players on this issue - after all - without Players the TLC has nothing. Sincerely, Dawn Nettles cc: Commissioner Sadberry
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The Honorable George W. Bush Dear Governor Bush, It was November 8, 1994 and the adrenaline was flowing through me as I boarded your King Air for the flight to Austin. It was Election Day. While en route, those of us on the plane expressed our sincerest hopes that by the end of the day, you would be Texas' newest Governor Elect. The excitement was everywhere. I can't remember everyone who was on the plane, but I do remember Barbara Nash, Barbara Grusendorf and I discussing how much we agreed with your philosophies regarding tougher punishment for criminals and your education proposals. We firmly believed that you were fair and would do right by the People of Texas. We even predicted that someday, you would become President of the United States. Just four days prior, you held a Press Conference at Love Field. My husband flew Pete Sessions in and Nolan Ryan out that day. Nolan really enjoyed the flight too as he dreamed of learning to fly and was able to sit up front and fly with my husband for a little while. He spoke highly of you and graciously signed baseballs - we still have them displayed in our living room. Everything went very well with your first term in office and the people of Texas voted you in by an overwhelming majority. However, Texas lost some of it's prosperous glamour on March 14 of this year. You see, March 14 was the day Linda Cloud, the Executive Director of the Texas Lottery Commission, announced another proposal to change Lotto Texas by adding four balls. As I'm sure you are aware, this would make winning the game considerably harder for the People of Texas, your constituents. But, according to Ms. Cloud, this is the sole intent. She believes that by creating fewer winners the jackpots will grow. She predicts the end result will be an increase in sales and the states' income when the jackpots reach $50 to $100 million. However, I think you should know that this very plan failed in New York and California. If I could ask for one thing, I would ask you to discuss this issue with your brother in Florida. I think he can confirm that the people of Florida are very unhappy with the addition of 4 balls to their game and are already rebelling. While we’ve recently been in a 30 day comment period, the Commission issued only one press release regarding the proposed changes. Additionally, it’s mentioned on their web site. But efforts instigated by the Commission to receive comments from Retailers on this plan is an unbelievable story. One that I recommend you check into especially in light of the simple fact that the retailers are not the ones who support the games of Texas in the first place. I can only conclude that since our games are currently NOT operating at a loss, it appears that Greed is at the root of this plan and we, the People of Texas, oppose it whole heartedly. Governor Bush, I am concerned that by not stopping this injustice, you may allow the Texas Lottery Commission to cheat the fine state of Texas out of its “voluntarily paid taxes.” You see, the People have told the Commission that they will quit playing the games if the balls are added. And we mean it. So that you will not think I stand alone on this issue, I am enclosing 3384 plus letters, petitions and e-mails that have been written by the People of Texas. Upon reviewing them, I trust you will halt Ms. Clouds plan and ask the Commission to address the sales problems at hand by offering creative sales incentives to retailers instead of creating new problems. This is what We, the People of Texas, are asking of you. The next Commissioners meeting, where they will probably vote on this issue, is scheduled for Friday, May 12, 2000 at 8:30 a.m. Thank you very much for your time and attention and your consideration in this matter will be greatly appreciated. Respectfully, Dawn Nettles
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