Commentary First
Before you read this story that was published in the Ft. Worth Star Telegram on Monday, Jan 27, 2003, I want you to know that if you were cheated out of your winnings by the Texas Lottery, you could not file a complaint with the Attorney General as he has NO jurisdiction over state agencies. You would have to pay an attorney yourself and sue the Texas Lottery.

The state does not provide consumer protection for citizens from unscrupulous acts performed by state agencies for free.

By law, only a "state" can run a "lottery." The federal government gave states a "monopoly" on lotteries as a way to insure that the citizens would be protected - states were not given the authority over gaming to provide themselves with revenue - but Texas takes advantage of its monopoly - they expect more revenues from its lottery and will prey on the citizens to get it.

Governor Perry is currently allowing the Texas Lottery to offer the citizens of Texas a game guaranteed to create losers for the sole purpose of making more money for the state - and please note, the players will not see more money - only the state will.

Now, read this unbelievable story about how Texas "really" spends our tax dollars.

Public funds for private attorney
By Jay Root
Star-Telegram Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - At a time when Texas lawmakers are chasing after every available dime, the governor's office is paying a private attorney $400 an hour to defend its former chief of staff against allegations of orchestrating a cover-up.

Mike McKinney, a doctor who now earns almost $400,000 a year as a University of Texas System executive, was one of four aides to Gov. Rick Perry who were sued for slander and defamation by the ex-director of the Texas Lottery, Linda Cloud.

But McKinney is the only one of the four who is billing state taxpayers for outside attorneys' fees, the governor's office said. Two staffers are being represented by state attorneys, and one has a private lawyer not paid by the state.

"We'd much rather not have to spend any of the taxpayers' dollars ... on a frivolous lawsuit," said Perry general counsel Bill Jones. "It is expensive whether you're using the attorney general's office or outside counsel."

At issue in the lawsuit: Cloud alleges that McKinney pressured her to cover up what she knew about an investigation of a Texas Lottery commissioner who had been accused of harassing a female employee.

Cloud says that once she started telling the truth about the inquiry, McKinney and the three other Perry aides de-famed and slandered her.

All of the aides, including McKinney, have issued general denials through their lawyers and are claiming "sovereign immunity" from liability, which protects government employees from many lawsuits. Cloud's lawyer says the immunity provision doesn't apply in this case.

According to Jones, McKinney hired an outside attorney because officials determined there was a "potential conflict of interest" in having the state attorney general's office represent three defendants.

Yet even after McKinney got a private lawyer, two defendants, Perry spokesman Gene Acuna and former aide Ray Sullivan, are still being defended by the attorney general. Jones said Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt, who was working in Perry's election campaign when the suit was filed, "has an arrangement for private counsel that is separate and apart from the others."

Jones, saying "you're getting into the specifics of the case," declined to say why representing three defendants created a conflict of interest for the attorney general's office, but representing two defendants did not.

McKinney's high-powered lawyer, Jim George of Austin, said a possible conflict could arise because "some of the defendants may be adverse to each other."

A call placed to McKinney's office at the University of Texas System in Austin was not returned late Friday afternoon. McKinney earns $384,000 a year and gets an $8,400 car allowance as the UT vice-chancellor for health affairs.

At a time when Perry has asked state agencies to cut their budgets by 7 percent to help whittle away a nearly $10 billion deficit, state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, questioned the wisdom of hiring high-priced outside attorneys.

"If you feel that [state] representation isn't good enough for you, then you hire your own attorney on your own dime," said Coleman, who has served on the powerful House Appropriations Committee for several years. "In a case where we don't have a lot of money, that is an awful lot of money per hour for an attorney. That's top-of-the-line."

The governor's office could not say how much the state had been billed so far. The legal services contract between George and the state calls for a cap of $100,000 unless the state attorney general agrees to raise it.

The case is still in its initial stages, so it's unclear how long it will drag on and how expensive it will get. Regardless, Jones said the state's role in providing a defense is worth the expense.

"It is entirely appropriate," he said, "and we're hoping the state will come out cheaper in the long run."

Jay Root, (512) 476-4294 jroot@star-telegram.com

FYI - Linda Cloud will be relocating to Colorado in the near future.