Missouri Lottery's Longest Serving Director, May Scheve Reardon, Resigns after Legislature Reduces Advertising Budget To $1
Missouri’s longest-serving lottery director has resigned. May Scheve Reardon has held the position for more than 13 years. State Lottery Commission Chairman Lance Mayfield says Scheve Reardon “saw the writing on the wall” when the Legislature slashed the Missouri Lottery’s next advertising budget to one-dollar.
Missouri lawmakers passed a 49-billion-dollar state budget proposal, with a record flow of cash from the federal government. Governor Parson has until the end of this month to make decisions on the Legislature’s budget proposal.
— The state’s longest-serving lottery chief announced Thursday she was leaving the job, saying the Missouri Legislature’s ongoing attempts to slash the agency’s budget had soured her on the post.
May Scheve-Reardon, 57, has served as lottery director for more than 13 years after being appointed to the post by former Gov. Jay Nixon. She intends to stay through July 29.
Her announcement came during a meeting of the Missouri Lottery Commission, in which she and lottery staff outlined the effects of budget cuts to the agency’s advertising and promotion budget.
The spending plan sent to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk includes a reduction in advertising and an elimination of funds used to promote the lottery at St. Louis Cardinals games, the Forest Park Balloon Festival, St. Louis Blues games and other events.
Lance Mayfield of Viburnum, chairman of the lottery commission, said "it’s a shame, because May Scheve Reardon is probably the best executive director the state lottery has ever had, he goes on to say "the state lottery and all of it’s employees have been great stewards of the peoples’ money when they did get an actual budget".
Since Mayfield was appointed to the commission by Governor Parson, he has seen four state audits of the lottery take place.
Each of those audits had zero findings.
Reardon won’t officially step down until a new executive director is approved, so she can help that person with the details of the job.
Because of their one dollar budget, large advertising contracts had to be cancelled as well with the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues and the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs have already found a replacement too…the Kansas Lottery is now one of the biggest advertisers for Missouri’s lone NFL team.
https://www.mymoinfo.com/two-stunners-at-missouri-lottery-commission-meeting/
-----------------------------
Ms Scheve is member of the Lottery Industry Hall of Fame inducted in 2019.