- Part 1 -

------------------------

Texas Lottery
A Story About A Story I'm
Attempting To Write
Titled
"The Perks of Running A Lottery"


2019

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brought to you by
The Lotto Report

 



lottoreport@lottoreport.com

Originally Posted: 08/11/19
Revised:

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- A Must Read -
Complaint Letter to Governor Abbott
Posted 11/9/19 - Click here
Exhibits to letter:
Exhibits A - D - Click here
Exhibits E - J - Click here

Part 1 - Aug 11, 2019 - Texas Lottery Lacks Transparency - Below
Part 2 - Aug 11, 2019 - An Open Records Nightmare
Part 3 - Aug 21, 2019 - Running A Red Light To Travel
Part 4 - Oct 21, 2019 - Investigative Reporting -
Director Grief's Favorite Pastime, Traveling
Part 5 - To Come

----------------

Opinions and Editorial
by
Dawn Nettles, The Lotto Report


- Texas Lottery Lacks Transparency -
I wonder, are the actions of the Texas Lottery
Executive Director Gary Grief indicating
he has something to hide?

------------------------------------------

"An Open Records Nightmare"
Should you want to read my open records requests and

the Texas Lottery's responses so I could attempt to
do this story, then there's a link at the bottom of this page ...
(But read this story first)

 

Let me explain why I wonder about "transparency" ...

In May, I received a phone call which was an invite to come to Austin to meet
with some current and former Texas Lottery employees. I accepted the invitation and
ended up spending two days with these people. I want to make it abundantly clear,
they were NOT disgruntled employees. Rather, they were loyal Texans who
could see what was going on and knew that they were taking part in
something that was not in the best interest of either the State of Texas
or Texas Lottery players. In my view, they had a conscience.

Their names will never be disclosed. I can
now say without hesitation, that what I learned
has been proven 100% true. And it's a story that
needs to be shared and I am going to tell it to you.

At any rate, after returning to Dallas in mid May, I began
making Open Records requests. While I was provided with
many documents while I was in Austin and even after returning to
Dallas, I always obtain my own documents directly from the Lottery.
It's now been three months since I began my investigation and the
Texas Lottery has still not provided me with some of the requested
information and what they have provided has included
ALTERED documents.

You will most likely conclude that the TLC does not want this story told.

Understand Just a Couple of Things About Open Records

I'm going to share with you the opposition I've faced from the Texas Lottery.
Before I get started, you need to know a couple of things. First, when a
person makes an Open Records Request, the state has 10 working days
to submit documents responsive to the request. Sometimes that time
can be extended if the information is voluminous. And sometimes
they will charge a fee to obtain the information.

Now there's a catch 22 in the system. If you make a request, and
they are not clear on what you want, they will ask for clarity. Seems
fair but in the case of the Texas Lottery, they often times wait
until the 10th working day to ask for clarity. This buys them
another 10 days to respond.

As for charging for information, when that happens, most
of the time, one can simply revise the request. And finally,
public documents are NOT supposed to be altered. They may
redact personal and security sensitive information, but it must be
"blacked out" and visible that something has been removed
from the document you receive
.

So now I'm going to show you how the Texas Lottery
has responded to some of my open records requests.

By reading these requests, you will most likely get
a sense of what my investigative story is all about.

I'll give you a hint .... money, money, money, money,
ego's, perks, special treatment for some folks and above
all else, highly questionable spending of state funds ....

 


- The Problems I've Encountered In Obtaining Public Information -

One
I Received Altered Documents

Two
Massive Delays in Obtaining Public Information



 

I requested Mr. Grief's "calendars" so I could
review his activities in order to write this story.

But I found some documents responsive to my request were Altered ...


 

I received the excerpts from calendars in the left column
in 2015. The excerpts come from a calendar
that shows 5 days per week so that's why
they are different sizes than the ones on the right.

 

I received the excerpts from calendars in the right
column in 2019. The excerpts come from a calendar
that shows 7 days per week so that's why
they are different sizes than the ones on the left.


The type highlighted in yellow does not appear on the calendars I received in 2019.
Scroll down to see how they were altered ... then read my note after the last one ...

(Received in 2015)
May 19, 2015

 

 

(Received in 2019)

May 19, 2015

 

(Received in 2015)

Sept 3, 2014

 

(Received in 2019)

Sept 3, 2014



(Received in 2015)

Nov 26, 2014

(Received in 2019)

Nov 26, 2014

 

(Received in 2015)

Dec 15, 2014

 

Grief's Calendars As Received in 2015
Grief - Sept - Dec 2014, Click here,pdf
Grief - Jan - April, 2015, Click here, pdf

 

(Received in 2019)

Dec 15, 2014

 

Griefs Calendars As Received in 2019
Grief - 2015 Calendar, Click here, pdf
Grief - 2014 Calendar, Click here,pdf



- My Comments About the Altered Calendars -

If a person finds ONE document that he KNOWS has been altered,
then how can he trust other documents to be true and accurate?

Reporters need ALL the information ... not just
what the entity wants you to know ...

It could be felony for a state agency to alter public documents in any
way. You will see the significance of these alterations to the Executive
Director's calendars when you read the section of my investigative story
about the "Lottery is Benefiting The Wealthy More Than The Poor."

If you want to see just the specific 4 pages responsive to my
Open Records Request in July 2015 as opposed to the same 4 pages
responsive to my June 2019 Open Records Request, then here it is.
Click here, pdf



About the next 3 excerpts ...

First you are going to see "sample travel days" as they
generally appear in Grief's calendars.

 

Excerpt #1

- Please Notice There's a Travel Itinerary -

Sample Travel Days Shown From Grief's Calendars
An Itinerary is included as it should be ...

 

Excerpt #2

- Please Notice There's A Travel Itinerary -

Sample Travel Days Shown From Grief's Calendars
An Itinerary is included as it should be ...



This Next Excerpt
Is different than what you see in the samples above
yet Mr. Grief was actually on a trip to London on these days ...

I can NOT say the next excerpt was "altered" - I have NO proof -
but I can say I seriously question it. Let's see if you'd question it too.

 

Excerpt #3

Please Notice - There's NO Travel Itinerary ....

Grief's Calendar As It Appears for
February 4, 5, 6, 7, 2014

Read his testimony on the right ...
Does it look like traveled to London to you?
Do you see an itinerary? (FYI - I confirmed
these are the World Lottery Association
Conference dates that he attended)

 

 

Here Grief tells the
Commissioners his plans ...

Dec 11, 2013 Commission Meeting
Going to London in Feb 2014 -


"MR. GRIEF: The second item I wish to brief the
Commission on involves an invitation I've received
from the World Lottery Association, or WLA
as t's known, to present at its annual conference
scheduled for February in London.
"

Feb 13, 2014 Commission Meeting

"Mr. GRIEF: Under Item XII, I have several items to
report to the Commission on this morning. First, as
I mentioned in our last Commission meeting in December,
I wa
s invited and recently attended the World Lottery
Association conference in London last week.
"

But it's not marked on his calendar???
Hmmm ....

 

By reviewing February 4, 5, 6, 7, 2014 on Excerpt #3 above,
you really can't tell that Mr. Grief was actually in London.
The notation of "WLA London" on the top looks like
it's nothing more than a personal reminder to me. I can't
help but wonder if this week was altered for my benefit?
This makes two trips to London ...

Also, I can't help but wonder how many other trips were made
that I didn't catch. I know of some but I considered them personal.

By reviewing Mr. Grief's calendars, I not only saw that they had been altered,
I also saw that the Texas Lottery's Executive Director, a state government employee,
only works a 4 day week in the office (he "telecommutes" on Fridays),
and travels like a royal. He has been on international trips to lottery conferences
in Singapore, London, Buenos Aires, Vancouver, Italy and in my humble
opinion, you paid for it
even though Mr. Grief claims otherwise!

UNBELIEVABLE
The Texas Lottery is a state agency of Texas, not an
international business. When you think about the
reality of Mr. Griefs travels, imagine ....
state business is being conducted
OUT OF THE COUNTRY!

Other state agencies have said to me, "this is not the norm."

(Complete details of Mr. Griefs travel
will appear in another segment of this series
)


 

 

Massive Delays in Obtaining Documents

Am I getting the run around?

Have they violated of the Open Records Act?

 

 

I requested Gary Grief's state issued Credit Card
statements so I could figure his travel expenses.


Here's a summary of what's transpired ....

I requested two years of Gary Grief's credit
card statements on June 5, 2019. Technically that
means I requested statements from May 2017
through May 2019 - a total of 24 statements.

One June 20, 2019, I received a total of 11 statements.
And you need to know, they don't match his travel!

They said the missing 13 statements were "not available."

One June 20, 2019, I wrote back and asked
why were statements for 2017 not available?

They didn't answer.

On July 7, 2019, I asked again why the statements were
missing and stated again that I'd like to receive them.

I also asked if Gary used two credit cards.
I asked because I noticed only hotels
expenses were shown those sent.

On July 16, 2019, I wrote again about the
missing statements and asked for clarification.

Additionally, I asked if they were saying the
statements were past their "retention" time.
Meaning the length of time records must be kept.

As I write this on Aug 4, the TLC has not
answered my question pertaining to either
Mr. Grief having or using two credit cards
nor the retention time.

I think it's obvious they have no intentions of answering
these two questions. I think they are hoping my questions
fade away into the sunset and are never mentioned again.

Sorry Mr. Grief, no such luck.

Now here's how the cow ate the cabbage ...
The answer that I should have received was that
there are at least three credit cards available to
TLC employees and direct billing is
available as well.
The 3 credit cards are:
1) PURC - Procurement Card
2) TRL - Travel Card
3) IBT - Individually Billed Travel Account

As it turns out, most of Mr. Grief's travel expenses
are charged to the "TRL" card - NOT his IBT card.
This info was NOT obtained from the TLC. They
have not reponded to my questions regarding the cards.
It appears his car rentals are direct billed - though
this is yet to be determined fully.


A Present for You ....

This document did NOT come from the
TLC, but I can assure you it is REAL.

It is the TLC's Citibank charges showing

travel - a whopping $464,910.20 and this is
ONLY what's been charged on the card.
(I have another file which shows additional
travel expenses. I'll show it to you later.)

This is NOT all of the travel
expenses and you can NOT use
it to figure Mr.Griefs travel expenses.
But you can sure get a feel for it!
Click here. xls

Regarding retention time for retaining
credit card statements where I asked 3 times
but never received an answer.

I think the reason they haven't answered this
question is because they removed a time frame
for retaining credit card statements from
their retention schedule. I say this because
I contacted the TX State Library and this is
what they said ...

A 7/17/19 response from the Texas State Library
and Archives Commission (TSLAC)

"State issued credit card statements" does not
appear as a record series title or in the description
of any record series on Texas Lottery Commission's
records retention schedule. For questions about how
Texas Lottery Commission currently classifies and
handles "state issued credit card statements,"
you must contact Texas Lottery Commission.
"

Hmmmm ....

I'm not certain if Grief's travel will be the first,
second or third story in my series because
the truth is, I'm dying to tell you about
a scratch ticket! How's that for a tease?

-----------------

 

Three

I requested Mr. Grief's Travel Expenses reports

Here's a summary of what's transpired ....
Obviously they don't want anyone to see them!

On May 12, 2019 I requested copies of Griefs
travel expense reports for the past 3 years.

Ten days later they sent me a bill
to obtain Grief's expense reports.
(They said there's over 1000 pages! WOW)

I revised the request to just one year -
this gave them another 10 days to respond.

On June 4, 2019, they sent. me another bill

We bickered back and forth then
on June 11th, I asked where we stood
on my request for Griefs expense reports.

They wrote that I would receive the reports
on June 24th .... I received the 2018, 2017
travel reports on June 25, 2019.

After reviewing the reports, I realized the reports
failed to include all costs associated with each
trip. So on July 7, 2019, I asked for the
"missing documents" and listed them.

They replied, on July 11, that they would
consider this a new request.

On July 18, they sent me a bill to obtain
the missing reports.(This is a bill for $261)

On July 19, 2019, I revised the request to
obtain only four reports then I requested
four more on July 22 and four more
on July 29. Bottom line, 3 requests total -
each for 4 of Griefs missing travel reports.

On August 2, 2019, I received a $59 bill
to obtain the first four (4) requested
missing reports.
On August 5th, I received
a bill for $193 to obtain the next 4 missing
reports, then on Aug 9th, I received a
bill for $59 for the next 4 missing
reports.
(I hope you noticed that the bills for these 12
reports is greater than the bill for all twenty!
Go figure~~~~
)

Obviously, they don't want me to see
the travel expense reports. Needless to say,
I quit requesting the missing reports.

By the way, the "present" I gave you
above, you know, that spreadsheet, well, it
has the most of the costs from the missing
reports listed. The others are in another file
I have but the TLC can't provide this data????

Hmmmm ....

Question?
Why do you think it has taken this much time
and back and forth communications to obtain
travel records for the Executive Director
of the Texas Lottery?

What is he hiding and WHY?
(I think I know the answer to this
question and will let you in on it
when I post this segment)

-----------

 

 

Four

I requested costs for memberships,
licensing fees & sponsorships.

My May 19, 2019 Request
I would like to receive copies of all invoices for conference fees,
subscription fees, sponsorship fees, membership fees, licensing
fees and any other monies paid to NASPL, MUSL, PGRI,
LaFleurs and WLA for 2014 through today's date.

Their Response 10 days later on May 30, 2019
Please see the attached cost estimate and let me know
how you would like to proceed. Please note that
documents from fiscal year 2014 and fiscal year
2015 have been destroyed in accordance with
our Records Retention Procedure.
(The bill is for $164
)

-----------------------------

Well, it appears they don't want this information
to be made public either. Huh??? Too bad ...

Can you imagine ... 1100 plus pages of sponsorship
fees, membership fees, and other monies paid out in
this category? Neither can I! But I can tell you
that they've paid a COLOSSAL amount of money
and I feel strongly it is a complete waste of money.

This segment is mind boggling. Unreal. It is
my opinion that these costs serve only one
purpose ... ego's, perks and attempts to
influence people ... pretending to be
something they are not and using state
money to achieve this self serving purpose.

 

 

 

Five

I requested complaints received from injured players
while in the Money Machine at the State Fair of TX ...

On July 29, 2019, the TLC wrote:
This email is in response to your Public Information Request
received July 15, 2019.

You requested: “I would like to receive copies or any/all
complaints the TLC received from the public regarding
being injured from the money machine at the state
fair. I would also like to receive a copy of
the invoice/statements from the vendor who
repaired the machine.” Please see the
attached correspondence regarding your request.

- WOW -
They filed for an AG Opinion to keep this from the public!
A players is injured and the TLC ignores his complaint. Just like
they do on complaints regarding scratch tickets, shoot,
they can't make good on things because they need
the money to travel the world and influence the wealthy!

But...
On August 2, 2019, the TLC changed their mind - in part they wrote ...
Attached are documents responsive to your request. Please note there
are no responsive documents to the second part of your request.
We have also withdrawn our request for an OAG decision.
Please see attached.

 

 

In Conclusion ...

The series titled Perks of Running A Lottery will be forthcoming ...
Maybe with this posting you will understand why it is
taking me so long to post my story which will cover a variety of issues.
They include colossal travel expenses, special perks for some employees,
making the wealthy richer by sponsoring events that shouldn't
be sponsored and licensed property scratch games that do NOT
benefit the players but gets special perks for some lottery employess!

---------------------------

An Open Records Nightmare ...
Should you want to read my open records requests and

the Texas Lottery's responses so I could do this story ...
click here.

------------------------------

- A Must Read -
Complaint Letter to Governor Abbott
Posted 11/9/19 - Click here
Exhibits to letter:
Exhibits A - D - Click here
Exhibits E - J - Click here

--------------------

Texas' Fun 5's Scratch Ticket Lawsuits

 





lottoreport@lottoreport.com

Texas Lotto Report
(All About the Texas Lottery)
Dawn Nettles
P. O. Box 495033
Garland, Texas 75049-5033
(972) 686-0660
(972) 681-1048 (Fax)

URL for areas of image outside of any defined elements.