Tuesday, June 06, 2006

As reported by the Lincoln Courier: "House Speaker Michael Madigan is
raising his own questions about the proposed sale of the state lottery,
casting a potential shadow over Gov. Rod Blagojevich's plan for a quick but
temporary fix for school funding. "In a letter to Blagojevich that was also
sent to all Illinois lawmakers, Madigan listed eight questions he said must
be answered, including what will happen to schools when an initial influx of
$4 billion is exhausted after four years. ".Blagojevich wants to sell or
lease the state lottery, which he said will bring $10 billion to state
government. Of that, $6 billion will be invested in an annuity to provide
the state about $650 million a year for the next 17 years. That will replace
the profits the state gets now from lottery sales. ".Madigan also questioned
how the administration determined that the lottery would fetch at least $10
billion if sold or leased to a private operator. Blagojevich officials said
the numbers came from the investment banking firm of Goldman Sachs after
evaluating the potential sale."