Lottery CEO could get 65 percent pay bonus

Friday, July 29, 2005 | 9:18 a.m.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A state lawmaker instrumental in creating the Tennessee lottery is upset by a bonus plan approved this week for the lottery's employees.

"You ought to do your work," said state Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis. "You get paid your salary. You do your best."

Under the bonus plan approved by the lottery's board of directors, CEO Rebecca Paul, who formerly headed Georgia's lottery, can earn a bonus equaling almost two-thirds of her base pay. Other executives and employees can earn as much as 30 percent if the lottery matches the highest-performing states in raising money for college scholarships.

Jim Hill, the lottery board's vice chairman and the chairman of its Human Resources Committee, defended the bonuses as a motivational tool and said the legislation creating the lottery corporation requires it to act "like an entrepreneurial business."

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