Politics interrupts routine approval of SC lottery

Jim Davenport

Wednesday, May 9, 2001 | 10:17 a.m.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Routine final approval of lottery legislation in the House wasn't routine at all Tuesday.

House leaders barely scraped together votes to pass its lottery bill on a 59-57 vote on third reading. Nearly two hours later, they passed a Senate lottery bill, nearly identical to the House bill, with a 63-48 vote.

A key difference between the bills is that the Senate version of the bill includes a sales tax on lottery ticket sales. Democrats who support Gov. Jim Hodges' vision of how a lottery should be run voted against both versions of the bill.

Tuesday's debate was unusual because bills rarely get extensive debate on third reading in the House.

House Republicans said they used the debate to get attention after Democrats complained to the media about how the bill was handled.

It "is simply raw politics at its worst," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said.

Democrats dished it out as well. "What we did last week for the citizens of this state was an embarrassment," Rep. Ken Kennedy, D-Greeleyville, said.

Also riling Republicans was a letter Hodges wrote to House Speaker David Wilkins threatening a special legislative session.

Control of the lottery's operations remains a key point of contention that will be worked out in a conference committee. Hodges has said he can accept the Senate's plan for five gubernatorial appointments to a nine-member lottery commission. The House's and Senate's top officers would each pick two members.

The House versions of the lottery give the governor and legislative leaders power to pick three members each on a nine-member commission.

"The governor is trying to hoodwink South Carolinians into believing that he has to control the lottery for it to be successful," said House Republican Majority Leader Rick Quinn.

Democrats have objected to taxing lottery ticket sales. Republicans pointed out that the state already taxes Bingo.

Democrats "refuse to support eliminating sales tax on food. You think it's more commonsense to tax food than gambling proceeds," Quinn said. "That's crazy."

House action on the bill came too late for the Senate to receive the bills Tuesday.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell said he hopes the Senate will take up the Senate bill quickly and reject the House changes. That would set in motion the formation of a conference committee.