Lottery Director

Gov. William Donald Schaefer fired William F. Rochford as director of the State Lottery Agency yesterday, five days after he alleged that the governor ordered him to inflate revenue estimates for the agency's keno game last year.Paul E. Schurick, the governor's chief of staff, informed the lottery director at a private meeting in Baltimore that he was being let go. Mr. Rochford, 68, a longtime friend and appointee of Mr. Schaefer's, headed the state agency for nearly seven years, of which the last two years were rocky.

Longtime Maryland Lottery Director Buddy Roogow, who has led the agency for 13 years, resigned Tuesday to take a job as executive director of the D.C. Lottery. "An opportunity presented itself," Roogow said in an interview. "I decided it's the right thing for me. It's a new challenge." His departure at the end of November comes as the Maryland agency is vetting bidders for licenses to operate slot-machine casinos in the state, and will eventually oversee the gambling operations when they open.

The field of candidates to replace Padraic M. Kennedy as president of the Columbia Association has been narrowed to seven people who are being interviewed by a six-member search committee.Though members of the committee refuse to identify the candidates, two are known to be Rob Goldman, head of membership services for the association, and Buddy W. Roogow, the state lottery director, who lives in Ellicott City.Goldman said he was to be interviewed today by the search committee, which comprises three members of the Columbia Council and three other Columbia residents.

The field of candidates to replace Padraic M. Kennedy as president of the Columbia Association has been narrowed to seven people who are being interviewed by a six-member search committee.Though members of the committee refuse to identify the candidates, two are known to be Rob Goldman, head of membership services for the association, and Buddy W. Roogow, the state lottery director, who lives in Ellicott City.Goldman said he was to be interviewed today by the search committee, which comprises three members of the Columbia Council and three other Columbia residents.

BETTING ON the lottery is a loser. Not just for those who pay their money and take their chances, but for taxpayers. Lottery revenue is not a stable source on which to build a state budget.Yet state leaders persist in relying on lottery funds for their ambitious new programs. Once again, they have been jilted. Lottery sales from July 1 to Dec. 1 declined 10 percent. The state's Board of Revenue Estimates now expects lottery receipts to be a whopping $49 million below budget projections. That leaves a considerable fiscal hole to be filled.

William F. Rochford easily wins this year's award as the biggest Lotto loser of them all. For displeasing the governor by speaking too candidly, Mr. Rochford was fired last week as director of the State Lottery Agency. Too many "missteps and miscues" had occurred, according to the governor's office.What triggered the firing was Mr. Rochford's audacity in telling a reporter why lottery proceeds are now expected to come in a whopping $106 million below budgetary estimates. The reason, according to the lottery director, is that Gov. William Donald Schaefer had insisted that revenue projections for the new Keno game be puffed up to help ease his budget problems.

Of the many mixed messages that youngsters can get from watching television, one of the most clearly paradoxical comes from nowhere other than their state governments.These are the institutions that are responsible for the school systems, that pay the salaries of the teachers who tell them every day how important it is to do their homework, to work hard; this is one of the essential structures in a country where the belief is constantly espoused that with hard work and perseverance the individual can accomplish virtually anything.

The company that took over Maryland's $1 billion-a-year lottery business last month is up for sale, raising questions about its future here.Automated Wagering International Inc. yesterday cited uncertainties surrounding its possible sale as a reason for withdrawing its offer to run the Kentucky lottery.AWI's parent company, Video Lottery Technologies, disclosed that it was "entertaining offers for the purchase of AWI" in a letter to Kentucky Lottery President Arthur L. Gleason Jr.The announcement raises questions about how the potential sale could affect the company's $53 million contract to run the Maryland lottery for five years.

A competitor opposing the no-bid award of a $49 million ken contract to current Maryland lottery computer vendor GTECH Corp. filed a new protest yesterday with the lottery director.The protest requests that Director William F. Rochford halt work on the new state-run gambling enterprise.Scott A. Livingston, a lawyer representing the Catonsville-based Advent Technology Inc., charged in a letter of protest that there was "no legitimate basis" for making the keno deal with GTECH on a sole-source, emergency basis.

Using a whistle and a bullhorn, keno coach Vicki Nailor rallied her "team" at a smoky tavern in Joppa to drop yet another buck on Maryland's fast-growing lottery game.After handing out door prizes and revving up the crowd, the state-salaried coach glided from table to table last week for some one-on-one instruction."You sound like a pro," Ms. Nailor said, flattering one woman even as she collected dollar bills for more keno games from several other players, whom she called "my girls."Such aggressive promotions, this one designed to teach novices how to play the somewhat complicated keno game, are helping to reinvigorate the Maryland lottery, the state government's third-largest source of revenue.

BETTING ON the lottery is a loser. Not just for those who pay their money and take their chances, but for taxpayers. Lottery revenue is not a stable source on which to build a state budget.Yet state leaders persist in relying on lottery funds for their ambitious new programs. Once again, they have been jilted. Lottery sales from July 1 to Dec. 1 declined 10 percent. The state's Board of Revenue Estimates now expects lottery receipts to be a whopping $49 million below budget projections. That leaves a considerable fiscal hole to be filled.

The company that took over Maryland's $1 billion-a-year lottery business last month is up for sale, raising questions about its future here.Automated Wagering International Inc. yesterday cited uncertainties surrounding its possible sale as a reason for withdrawing its offer to run the Kentucky lottery.AWI's parent company, Video Lottery Technologies, disclosed that it was "entertaining offers for the purchase of AWI" in a letter to Kentucky Lottery President Arthur L. Gleason Jr.The announcement raises questions about how the potential sale could affect the company's $53 million contract to run the Maryland lottery for five years.

Using a whistle and a bullhorn, keno coach Vicki Nailor rallied her "team" at a smoky tavern in Joppa to drop yet another buck on Maryland's fast-growing lottery game.After handing out door prizes and revving up the crowd, the state-salaried coach glided from table to table last week for some one-on-one instruction."You sound like a pro," Ms. Nailor said, flattering one woman even as she collected dollar bills for more keno games from several other players, whom she called "my girls."Such aggressive promotions, this one designed to teach novices how to play the somewhat complicated keno game, are helping to reinvigorate the Maryland lottery, the state government's third-largest source of revenue.

William F. Rochford easily wins this year's award as the biggest Lotto loser of them all. For displeasing the governor by speaking too candidly, Mr. Rochford was fired last week as director of the State Lottery Agency. Too many "missteps and miscues" had occurred, according to the governor's office.What triggered the firing was Mr. Rochford's audacity in telling a reporter why lottery proceeds are now expected to come in a whopping $106 million below budgetary estimates. The reason, according to the lottery director, is that Gov. William Donald Schaefer had insisted that revenue projections for the new Keno game be puffed up to help ease his budget problems.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer fired William F. Rochford as director of the State Lottery Agency yesterday, five days after he alleged that the governor ordered him to inflate revenue estimates for the agency's keno game last year.Paul E. Schurick, the governor's chief of staff, informed the lottery director at a private meeting in Baltimore that he was being let go. Mr. Rochford, 68, a longtime friend and appointee of Mr. Schaefer's, headed the state agency for nearly seven years, of which the last two years were rocky.

The much-maligned art of stonewalling resurfaced in Annapolis this past week. We have not seen much of this art form in recent times. But officials from the Maryland State Lottery Agency gave a fine example of this age-old technique.State officials don't usually try to zip their lips when speaking before legislative committees. They know it's unwise, that lawmakers can easily get back at them by slashing their budget (or a more recent vendetta tactic -- deleting an offending bureaucrat's personal identification number from the budget, i.e., firing the poor soul)

I BELIEVE I have identified the fundamental problem with presidential politics in this country. It's a take-off on that old joke about being in a club: I wouldn't want to have anything to do with a club that would have a member like me.The last person we need for president of the United States is someone who really wants the job. Think about it. Everyone knows what kind of job it is: long hours, dangerous exposure to lots of nut cases and, worst of all,...

A competitor opposing the no-bid award of a $49 million ken contract to current Maryland lottery computer vendor GTECH Corp. filed a new protest yesterday with the lottery director.The protest requests that Director William F. Rochford halt work on the new state-run gambling enterprise.Scott A. Livingston, a lawyer representing the Catonsville-based Advent Technology Inc., charged in a letter of protest that there was "no legitimate basis" for making the keno deal with GTECH on a sole-source, emergency basis.