One of the other hats I wear is that of travel editor for
All About Beer magazine. Writing about beer and travel is fun, and it pays my bar tabs.
It also takes my mind off politics. Well, most of the time. Unfortunately, it's impossible to separate alcohol and politics. I'm willing to bet that my fellow Kossacks have strong opinions about topics like the legal drinking age, whether beer ads should be regulated, and how high taxes should be.
My pet peeve about alcoholic beverage regulation is the "three-tier system," which was put into place in most states after the repeal of Prohibition. Simply put, it requires those who make the product to sell it to the public via a distributor. The intention was to keep underworld figures out of the newly re-legalized alcohol industry and to stop big breweries from owning bars.
But times change. Americans rediscovered good beer and tried to share it with others, only to find that archaic laws prevented them from opening brewpubs. And small, boutique wineries, many of them family-owned, can't sell their wine over the Internet to aficionados in other states.
The reason? Distributors don't want to lose business.
Recently, the Detroit Free Press ran a three-part series on the 75-member Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association entitled "Under the Influence." The bottom line: Wholesalers spend big money on politicians, ask for only one thing in return. Don't change anything.
The Free Press's investigation found that the wholesalers have, since 1997, donated more than $2 million to state politicians. They also operate a reception room two blocks from the Captiol, which some lawmakers use for fund-raisers. All of this is perfectly legal.
What might not be legal, according to the Free Press, was a series of secret meetings between the wholesalers and members of the Michigan Liquor Control Commission to discuss enforcement and policy issues. One such issue was internet wine sales, which are illegal in Michigan. A challenge to the internet sales ban is currently before the Supreme Court.
Although the wholesalers boast that they've persuaded the Legislature not to raise excise taxes, their restrictive practices have made beer and wine more expensive in Michigan than it is in most nearby states. So much more so that Northwest Airlines buys its beer in Minnesota and flies it to its Detroit hub (the airline might find itself in legal hot water over that practice).
Wholesalers swing a big bat in other state capitols; and, more often than not, the public is the loser. The Free Press series will do little to diminish the Michigan wholesalers' power--they perennially finish among the top 10 contributors--but it serves as a reminder of the conflict between the special interests and the public interest.
There, I got that off my chest. Now I want to hear from you. What special interests bug you the most? What industry or lobbying group has your state's legislators under their influence? And who's fighting them?
