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Sorry to keep posting these but i paid for 24 hours on the statesman archives and am trying to get relavent stories. I am only skimming them, and hopefully there will be something I am missing.

Buyout's beam of light

DATE: June 20, 1997
PUBLICATION: Austin American-Statesman (TX)
EDITION: Final
SECTION: Editorial
PAGE: A10

Texas Lottery operator GTECH and consultants Ben Barnes and Ricky Knox wanted to keep secret the amount Barnes and Knox were paid to stop working for GTECH a month after the consultants were implicated by federal prosecutors in Newark, N.J., in a kickback scheme.

The Austin American-Statesman and other news organizations believed the buyout contract was a public record.

State Attorney General Dan Morales sided with the news organizations.

Now we know why GTECH, Barnes and Knox did not want the payout revealed. It was huge. Barnes and Knox got more than $23 million, broken down as follows:

*Barnes and Knox split $15 million --in cash. The percentage each got of the total was not specified.

*In addition, former Lt. Gov. --Barnes is getting $168,328 per month for three years, and lobbyist Knox is receiving $58,752 per month for three years.

The American-Statesman's Ken Herman reported that the buyout specifies that the payments would stop if Barnes or Knox is named in a ``final conviction or a felony or other crime which materially adversely affects the business of GETCH or its affiliates in Texas.''

Neither man has been charged with any wrongdoing. Federal prosecutors in New Jersey said in a presentencing report on former GTECH official J. David Smith that Barnes and Knox paid more than $500,000 in kickbacks to Smith. The two consultants deny they did anything wrong. Barnes said he hired Smith to work on non-lottery business, but the prosecutor's report said there was no evidence Smith had done anything to earn the money.

GTECH spokesman Marc Palazzo said the buyout money came from ``general corporate funds, and not from funds attributable to the Texas Lottery.''

The Lottery Commission has been reviewing GTECH's business practices since last November, after saying it was concerned about the

amount of money Barnes was getting. The commission has voted to seek

new bids for the contract held by GTECH. Lottery Commissioner John Hill, who said he had earlier been given an idea of the size of the buyout, said he is ``shocked'' by the dollar amount the two consultants got.

Now that the extent of the buyout has been made public, Texans have the basis for forming their own conclusions, which is what open government is all about.

The lottery is a big moneymaker for the state and the operator, and if public confidence in the lottery is to be maintained at a high level, the public must have access to details of the lottery. That the lottery operator is a private company makes no difference.

Morales is to be congratulated for his ruling on behalf of government in the sunshine. We hope it is a precedent that is followed as privatization of traditional government services proceeds. It is vital that the public not be shut off from information which it has a right to, under the cover of protecting ``proprietary information'' or the like.