Chon Gutierrez, a longtime state official who has headed the California Lottery and the Department of Motor Vehicles, announced his retirement Thursday after more than 34 years in state government.
In a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gutierrez, 60, said he was stepping down immediately from his current post as acting lottery director.
"From my perspective, how is the perfect time for me to finally retire," he said in a statement.
Gutierrez was director of the lottery from 1987 to 1991. He has served as acting lottery director since last year.
He has also served as interim director of the Department of Motor Vehicles, co-director of Schwarzenegger's review of state agencies, undersecretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, deputy director of the Department of Finance and chief assistant secretary of state.
In Gutierrez's latest stint as lottery director, the lottery joined the multi-state Mega Millions lotto game, despite an opinion from the Legislature's attorneys questioning whether the move was legal.
Gambling opponents filed a lawsuit last month attempting to force California to drop out of the game.
Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, has introduced redundant legislation to clarify that the lottery can join a multi-state lottery as long as the games are not played internationally and do not involve slot machines or Internet gambling.
A spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, Julie Soderlund, said the governor's office is conducting a nationwide search for a new lottery director and will appoint an acting director in the meantime.
I hope that CA Governor Schwarzengger gets a permanent lotto director to replaced the acting lotto director and retired Guitierriez. I wonder what happened to CA lottery director Tony Molica? I was impressed that Mega Millions, a multi-state United States lotto game, let CA as long as they don't involve Internet gambling or be part of the world lottery.
I have no idea what that means.
I hope that CA Governor Schwarzengger gets a permanent lotto director to replaced the acting lotto director and retired Guitierriez. I wonder what happened to CA lottery director Tony Molica? I was impressed that Mega Millions, a multi-state United States lotto game, let CA as long as they don't involve Internet gambling or be part of the world lottery.
Just6ntlc,
You appear to be taking different parts of different sentences (probably from new articles) and then cutting and pasting them into one sentence that makes no sense - just to keep from having a single sentence post. This isn't the 1st time you have done this. If this is the best that you can come up with, maybe you should just read the posts for awhile - without posting anything yourself.