Reports: $477,917 donated for lottery
Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Little Rock property manager John Bailey contributed an additional $ 25, 000 last month to promote a state lottery measure, increasing his contributions to $ 400, 000, a committee reported Tuesday.
Hope for Arkansas, the committee, reported June’s contributions at $ 40, 066. 94 and expenses at $ 25, 183. 29, raising total contributions to $ 477, 917. 24 and total expenses to $ 462, 576. 64 through June. Its balance was $ 15, 340. 60.
Among several other June contributors, J. D. Simpson III of Little Rock gave $ 10, 011. 94 and Replacement Parts Inc. of Little Rock chipped in $ 2, 500.
Bailey’s father, Ted, also previously contributed $ 50, 000 to the lottery effort.
“Other folks are coming forward and helping, which we really appreciate,” Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter said Tuesday. “We are grateful for all the contributions, and we are certainly very grateful for the magnificent philanthropic act of the Bailey family.” John Bailey, chief executive officer and manager of Bailey Properties LLC, has said he and his family are donating because they want to give more children opportunities for a college education.
The lotteries the proposed constitutional amendment would authorize would fund college scholarships. Bailey has said the family was inspired by Murphy Oil Corp. ’s pledge to give college scholarships to El Dorado High School graduates.
Last month, Halter said the committee turned in signatures of 138, 615 Arkansans to the secretary of state’s office. The office is working to determine whether the signatures are valid. The signatures of 77, 468 Arkansas registered voters are necessary to qualify the measure for the Nov. 4 ballot.
A committee opposed to a state lottery, the Arkansas Committee for Ethics Policy, isn’t doing as well.
It reported $ 6, 025 in contributions and $ 317. 16 in expenses last month. Its total contributions are $ 23, 796. 52 and total expenses $ 4, 496. 19, leaving a balance of $ 19, 300. 33 on June 30.
Another committee opposed to a lottery, the Family Council Action Committee, reported no contributions and $ 385. 15 in expenses in June. Its contributions total $ 2, 061 and expenses $ 2, 406. 89, leaving a debt of $ 345. 89 on June 30.
The action committee also is promoting a proposed initiated act to ban unmarried cohabiting couples from adopting or being foster parents of children. For that purpose, the committee reported contributions of $ 3, 610 and expenses of $ 12, 829. 97 last month. It reported total contributions of $ 45, 629. 15 and total expenses of $ 51, 522. 29, leaving a debt of $ 5, 893. 14 as of June 30.
The committee said it turned in signatures of more than 61, 974 registered voters earlier this month to the secretary of state’s office.
The committee formed to oppose that ballot proposal, Arkansas Families First, reported no contributions and no expenses last month. It reported total contributions of $ 60, 480 and total expenses of $ 23, 194. 50, leaving a balance of $ 37, 285. 50 on June 30.
Two committees that didn’t collect enough signatures to qualify their proposals for the ballot and therefore didn’t file petitions with the secretary of state’s office to try to qualify their proposals for the Nov. 4 ballot also filed reports.
Secure Arkansas, which promoted a ballot measure to bar illegal aliens from receiving certain state services, reported contributions of $ 1, 025. 90 and expenses of $ 1, 240. 68 for June. It reported total contributions of $ 1, 706. 57 and total expenses of $ 465. 89.
A committee that promoted a ballot measure to extend the terms of sheriffs from two to four years, the Sheriffs for Four-Year Terms Committee, reported contributions of $ 128 and expenses of $ 64. 80 last month. It reported total contributions of $ 3, 117 and total expenses of $ 2, 735. 97.
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