Governor Tom Vilsack said today he’s still not had a chance to read the transcripts of legislative committee testimony that set off a controversy surrounding Iowa Lottery Director Ed Stanek. Key Republican leaders said Thursday they’ve lost confidence in Stanek after Stanek said a republican lawmaker gave the go-ahead to put the controversial TouchPlay lottery machines in convenience stores.
Vilsack says he’s not ready to make any comment on the issue yet. “I’m not at this point in time in the middle of this uh, this uh, contest between folks. I’d be happy to look at the transcripts, but I think it’s important for everybody to kind of tone down the rhetoric a little bit, and lets focus on the real problems here,” Vilsack says.
Vilsack says the task force he appointed to study the machines will answer some of the key questions about them. He says his focus is maintaining the “integrity” of the Lottery and the lottery game. He says he’s also concerned about coming up with a plan for TouchPlay so that children and problem gamblers are not adversely impacted and so that intoxicated gamblers don’t have access to the machines. Vilsack made his comments in Des Moines at the summit on planning for a flu pandemic.