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. Sadly, the myth persists that teacher retirement or schools or both get plenty of money from the lottery.