Lottery For Sale??

INDIANAPOLIS | The state began formally courting potential Hoosier Lottery lease bidders earlier this month, a move that has drawn harsh complaints from Democrats. Gov. Mitch Daniels would need permission from the Legislature before he could sign a cash-generating lease, and critics say the decision to seek proposals from interested firms belies the spirit of compromise the Republican leader stressed in a speech last week.

"The bill to sell the lottery has not yet been heard, and they're already putting out, apparently, feelers for it," complained House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend. "I just think that's jumping the law, if not the gun." Bauer, who then was in the minority, was an outspoken critic of last year's $3.8 billion private lease of the Indiana Toll Road, which was negotiated without prior approval from lawmakers.

Daniels did, however, make clear that his administration would issue a "request for qualifications" from potential lottery bidders when he announced his plan to attack brain drain in the state last month. The goal is to negotiate a multidecade lease that would attract an up-front payment of at least $1 billion to fund merit-based scholarships and research endowments for students.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich first proposed the concept last summer, billing a lottery lease as a potential windfall for K-12 education. New Jersey officials also have expressed interested in the idea. "We believe there's going to be a lot of interest," Daniels said. "We've been told to expect -- and I think Illinois has been told to expect and New Jersey's been told to expect -- a significant number of entities to express interest."

Indiana has hired the investment bank Morgan Stanley to evaluate the proposals it receives, though Daniels does not expect to get firm bids before the General Assembly adjourns in April. Legislation to authorize a Hoosier Lottery lease was introduced last week in the Republican-led Senate. But the proposal has received little public support from lawmakers of either party.

"I think the privatization of the lottery is not something that we need to do," said state Rep. Bob Kuzman, D-Crown Point. "We can raise that money, make the money and utilize that money here in the state of Indiana.