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Like many States, Tennessee is facing a budget
shortfall. Due to lack of money, Tennessee is turning to a lottery to
assist in funding the State’s education programs. In response to the
State’s needs, the people of Tennessee authorized the legislature to
enact a lottery. The Lottery is designed to provide funding for
scholarship programs for students. The lottery will provide funds for
capital improvement projects in the K-12 programs. In formulating the legislation, different views
of a lottery are developing. Legislation coming from both houses have
differences. These differences are pitting the two houses of the
legislature against one another. The Governor weighed in supporting the
House version over the Senate version, creating more tension. By all
news media reports many believe the differences between Governor
Bredesen, and Steve Cohen (the lottery’s prime sponsor), is a battle
of control, control over who will control the implementation, and
management, of the lottery program. Take for example, the differences in the
proposed appointment of the lottery governing board. The Senate version
allows the governor to appoint three members of the Board, the House to
appoint three members of the Board, and the State Senate to appoint
three members of the board. The House version creates a seven-member
board, with the governor appointing five members and the two speakers of
each house appointing one member each. Senator Steve Cohen opposes the House version
and he, therefore, opposes the Governor’s view of the appointment
process for the board. Many news outlets are reporting these differences
as a conflict on who will control the lottery program—the Governor or
the Legislature. The dispute over who should have this appointment
authority is reported as significant. It is an issue of control, control
over the future of the lottery. The press is reporting that the issue is
not only one of control, but one of egos. With the public reports on the tension between
Senator Cohen and the Governor, the resolution to this issue may show us
how the Governor, and the Legislature, can work out differences. We also
may have a “snap shot” of how the Legislature and the Governor will
work together. The Governor does not see the lottery as a top
priority. His view of the lottery may be an indication the Governor’s
ability to prioritize, discuss, and compromise on the issues facing
Tennessee. The Governor was recently quoted as saying,
“to me the budget is about 99 on a scale of 100, and the lottery is
about 10 on a scale of 100 in terms of how important it is for our
future…I’m certainly going to live with what they’ve worked out,
but I’m focused totally on the budget and TennCare.” The Governor is indicating a willingness to
prioritize and to “live with what they’ve [the legislature] work[s]
out.” This willingness to accept the legislative compromise on the
lottery demonstrates that this Governor may appreciate the art of
compromise, an art requiring our leaders to prioritize, discuss, and
reach consensus on the issues facing our state. The Governor may be willing to compromise on
this issue to gain credibility on other issues he may feel are more
important for this state. The ability to compromise is an art; the issue
of who will appoint the lottery board may be a true test of that art and
a true test of this Governor to use that art. Stuart F. James |
