Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln introduced a bill — LB 758 — on Jan. 4 to prevent state employees from receiving gifts, such as dinners and University of Nebraska sporting events tickets.
Daily Nebraskan: Can you give a brief description of the bill and its implications?
Bill Avery: This is a bill that would put an end to the practice of employees in the revenue department who regulate the lottery program in the state being wined and dined (by lottery officials), which creates a perception that they are perhaps not being totally objective in their task of administering that program.
The second part of the bill would apply to all state employees who now receive a large number of free tickets to UNL sporting events.
DN: Why do they receive free tickets?
Avery: The state of Nebraska spends a lot of money advertising state programs on Husker Sports Network. I think that might be about $1 million. What Husker Sports Network officially does is provide free admission to athletic events at the university to these state employees who approve or don't approve the advertising on their network, so it's kind of an incentive to the state employees to continue to buy time on the network. The state auditor brought this issue to my attention.
DN: Why does this practice need to end?
Avery: It's a question of making sure that the perception the public has of state employees and the use of tax money is one that they have confidence in. It's also a question of whether or not the public can have confidence in employees of the state to administer a lottery program and make sure they're not unduly influenced by the lottery industry. I think the public would be disapproving of this kind of relationship.
DN: How did the state auditor become aware of the relationship between industries and their regulators?
Avery: In the case of the lottery, the state employees for the revenue department are a very vital part of overseeing that program. They're required every year to go through a public audit, and that's where this first appeared, when the auditor was doing the audit this past year. That's when he discovered what was going on. In government, there needs to be a confidence that we're doing things the right way, and that we don't have a cozy relationship between the industries we're trying to regulate and the state employees that are charged with that responsibility.
jacymarmaduke@dailynebraskan.com
