president in 1984, MEA and MFT slowly began to recognize that working against each other served no useful purpose so maybe it would be better to work together on issues dear to both of them. The Montana State Lottery provided the first issue to push the two unions into common cause. In 1986, Montana voters approved LR 100, a legislative referendum, creating a state lottery and directing net revenue (revenue left over after prizes, administration, and overhead) go to reduce county property taxes dedicated to public employee pensions. As MEA had predicted, net revenue proved to be inconsequential, in the early years less than $3 million annually. No one noticed demonstrable property tax relief spread across 56 counties. To ramp up sales, the Montana Lottery began to run compelling ads indicating that the lottery funded public school employee retirement plans. Feaver and McGarvey publicly objected to the lottery's misleading advertising. But the damage was done. In the 1989 special legislative session, in order to respond to a Montana Supreme Court decision (Helena v. State of Montana) and help fill an empty school funding bucket, the state legislature diverted lottery revenues from inconsequential property tax relief to public school funding. Again, not a significant amount. In 1995 in an effort to de-earmark various revenue streams, at the request of MEA, the legislature diverted net lottery revenues to the state's general fund. Finally the 2015 and 2019 legislatures dedicated a portion (currently $2 million) of net lottery revenue (approximately $15 million) to fund STEM scholarships to Montana public colleges and universities. In short, so far as a funding source for public employee retirement and later public schools, the lottery was a bad bet. The myth persists that teacher retirement or schools or both get plenty of money from the lottery. In the 1991 legislature MEA and MFT jointly introduced and lobbied to a successful conclusion a bill providing hiring preference for already employed teachers and classifieds should their school districts be annexed or consolidated. The consolidation of Clyde Park and Wilsall school districts into Shields Valley school district provoked this legislation. Earlier Feaver and McGarvey had personally competed with each other for the bargaining rights in Clyde Park. Clyde Park teachers chose MFT. But organizing did not provide them the protection MEA and MFT later secured in 1991 for school employees in future consolidations or annexations. Today Shields Valley is an MFPE