Thursday, May 5, 2005 | 9:50 a.m.
A proposal to set up a state-run gambling operation won't appear on the 2006 ballot as currently written, Attorney General Mike Beebe says, because it leaves too many questions unanswered.
Beebe provided that assessment in an opinion provided Wednesday to the author of the measure, state Rep. Charles Ormond, D-Morrilton, who would be made the first president of the gaming operation by the proposal he wrote.
The attorney general rejected the popular name and ballot title of the measure submitted by Ormond after the Legislature rejected it as one of the three measures that lawmakers can refer to the ballot.
Beebe's opinion said the measure "leaves unclear certain fundamental issues that will be of concern to the voters."
It said the attorney general's office could not make additions or changes to the popular name and ballot title to fairly or completely summarize the effect of the measure without resolution of the ambiguities, Beebe's opinion said.
"I guess I'll have to come up with some language that the attorney general will be happy with," Ormond said.
He said he would deal with the matter when he returns from a monthlong European vacation.
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