LITTLE ROCK—Arkansas’ lottery director on Thursday dismissed questions about his salary and others’, saying most people in the state don’t understand the mechanics of starting a lottery from scratch.

Arkansas Lottery Commission Executive Director Ernie Passailaigue, appearing before a legislative panel, defended the combined $450,000 he wants to offer two former colleagues to take top posts with the state’s games.

“This is the ultimate in second-guessing, Monday morning quarterbacking,” Passailaigue told members of the lottery commission’s legislative oversight panel. “You cannot make a right decision. You cannot justify to the average person in Arkansas my salary or anybody else’s compensation here.”

Passailaigue told the committee that the general public probably wouldn’t understand the details that go into starting a lottery. Arkansas voters in November approved a constitutional amendment authorizing the games to raise money for college scholarships.

The committee reviewed Passailaigue’s proposed $5 million budget for between now and Oct. 29, the commission’s self-imposed deadline for selling the first lottery tickets in the state. The commission is operating on a $6 million loan from the state that will be repaid by ticket sales.

On Wednesday, it approved the startup budget for the games and an organizational plan that calls for hiring 88 people.

The commission voted in June to hire Passailaigue, who was the director of South Carolina’s lottery, and pay him $324,000 annually. Passailaigue hopes to hire two former colleagues from that state as vice presidents of Arkansas’ lottery and pay them $225,000 each.

They are Ernestine Middleton, South Carolina’s director of internal operations, and David Barden, director of marketing and product development. Middleton is paid about $143,000 a year and Barden about $133,000.

Lawmakers said they’ve been receiving complaints from the public about the proposed pay for the two.

“When the commission hired you and paid your salary, the constituents out there were raising all kinds of Cain and ringing my phone off the wall,” Rep. Buddy Lovell, D-Marked Tree, told Passailaigue. “And I’ve already heard from them about these two salaries since yesterday’s commission meeting.”

Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, said he was concerned about the way the commission classified some of the positions it wants to fill and that he also was worried about the high pay.

“We’re talking about an $80,000 to $90,000 increase for those VP slots compared to what they’re making now, so that’s a concern,” he said.

Passailaigue said he believed the hires would save the lottery money because he could consolidate some jobs and avoid spending money training people with no experience with the games.

House Speaker Robbie Wills, D-Conway, who was chief sponsor of the legislation setting up the lottery commission, said the public needs to understand why the lottery is paying its top officials so much.

“A lot of these folks are fans of a football team that pays $2.5 million for a coach, and a lot more money than they’re probably paying you for assistant coaches for a program that provides scholarship players for athletes, and they’re OK with that because they understand it,” Wills said. “I want them to understand what this enterprise is about to the same degree that they understand that enterprise.”