The Virginian-Pilot
©
RICHMOND
The leading proposal to get Virginia out of the liquor business calls for privatizing retail and wholesale operations and auctioning licenses to distributors and sellers of spirits.
Under that plan, the state could issue 500 to 800 licenses across the state according to a distribution formula, the governor's senior policy adviser, Eric Finkbeiner, told lobbyists, lawmakers and others Tuesday at a meeting of the state government reform and restructuring commission. That would be a marked increase from the 332 Alcoholic Beverage Control stores Virginia now operates.
State Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple, an Arlington Democrat on the commission, finds the prospect of that many liquor stores tough to swallow.
The "grave concerns" that Whipple said she and other Democrats have about privatization could spell doom for Gov. Bob McDonnell's plan in the Senate, a 40-member chamber in which Democrats hold a two-seat majority.
Privatization of liquor sales and using the proceeds to pay for transportation needs is expected to be a central component of a General Assembly special session McDonnell tentatively plans to call this fall.
The administration estimates that would yield a one-time windfall of $300 million to $500 million. Additional profits could come through periodic fees that licensees would pay to the state, Finkbeiner said.
Licenses would be divided among large retailers, independent shopkeepers and convenience stores with different prices for each category.
Three other proposals have been discussed by administration officials.
One calls for the state to retain control of retail and wholesale operations and use private retailers to sell spirits on behalf of Virginia. That would not generate up-front transportation money for the state, according to the administration.
Another would sell wholesale and retail rights to a corporate partner. But that would only swap one monopoly for another, Finkbeiner said.
Fully privatizing Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control would allow the more than 3,000 Virginia stores licensed to sell wine and beer to also market liquor, which state officials acknowledge could lead to an explosion of liquor stores.
Whatever concept is chosen, Finkbeiner said the state will maintain oversight, strengthen enforcement efforts to protect public safety and keep the current separation between producers, wholesalers and retailers. And localities would retain the ability to object to the issuance of licenses and adopt zoning rules that limit where alcohol can be sold.
"We don't want to look like some other states where we've got a liquor store on every corner and gaudy neon signs," Finkbeiner told the commission.
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Amazing
Regardless of all the bickering I have read on this subject, Gov. McD is going to do what he wants to do. The next Governor will just have to clean up the mess he will no doubt leave. It is a shame nobody learned From former Gov. Warner. We were so much better off after 4 years of his service. Shame Kaine couldn't fill his shoes. Go figure, 4 years of Warner and what did we have to show? A state in the black from the previous Governors. And we didn't become Socialists then. I guess the world will just keep turning no matter who calls who any names. Blog on brothers and sisters.....
ABC stores = JOBS
I guess republicans like the joke of a governor don't care a bit about the 2600 jobs that will be lost by closing the stores. I'm sure you'll reply that the private sector will employ even more people - and - yes, they will but minimum wage/part time jobs instead of full time state jobs with benefits. This is the real republican agenda, turning everyone into minimum wage slaves.
I love reading all the republican comments calling ABC stores socialism and communism. The richest, healthiest and happiest nations in the world are all socialist, go figure. Christians hate happy people because then they would be out of business - having a fearful, depressed, desperate, hate-filled population is a huge boom for the right-wing.
Not to mention
Not to mention that if the grocery and convenience stores are allowed to sell spirits, they will not hire extra people to make up for the extra sales. That means more people unemployeed.
Privatizing liquor industry
A completely unregulated market is Spencerian "survival of the fittest." Government control of the means of producing wealth or redistribution of wealth is, depending upon the degree, one form of socialism or another. A representative government that largely remains aloof from the relations between individuals in a civil society and only uses its power to prevent individuals or groups in civil society from abusing their power is classical liberal, free market.
Businesses are not taxed, individuals are. A product is not taxed, the individual that buys the product is taxed. Sin taxes are meant to discourage consumption not raise significant amounts of revenue; need only look at the decreasing revenue from cigarette taxes to see what happens when a sin tax goes to high. In a free market all businesses survive by satisfying their consumers. The more government becomes involved in the activities of businesses, the more power government has over the wealth created by private enterprise the more incentive businesses have to buy politicians and the less incentive they have to satisfy their consumers.
These simple economic principals are more fully detailed in the works of J.B. Say,
Smoke and Mirrors
Regretfully, part of the problem with all this turmoil is that it once again deflects attention away from the failure of the Governor and his allies in the House of Delegates from for transportation. Even if he loses this fight, he can say I wanted to fix transportation but my opponents blocked it. In other words, another tactic in a long series of smoke and mirrors, resulting in the quiet yet sustained destruction of our once efficient transportation system. Fact is, even if approved say for $500 M, that would fund one or two interchange improvement projects, so no one with an iota of knowledge can claim that this is a fix for transportation, but of course, that won't stop the vaunted McDonnell PR machine from making the claim. Until we have new Delegates, we won't make a dent in our transportation crisis.
That's funny
That's pretty good. Claiming someone else is using red herring while you're doing it yourself. The issue at hand is the ABC stores.
"Red Herring" - I'm not sure
"Red Herring" - I'm not sure you fully understand the concept of that.
Transportation is a valid point to bring up, as it was mentioned in the article several times. For example: "Privatization of liquor sales and using the proceeds to pay for transportation needs is expected to be a central component of a General Assembly special session McDonnell tentatively plans to call this fall."
So, yea - not a red herring.
Perhaps
Well, perhaps to you, the issue is ABC stores. But to me, it is more about ideology and politics. This re-organize theme is a constant reaction to crisis, natural and man made, but in most cases, has its own costs. For example, does anyone think we are actually safer because of the creation of the Dept. of Homeland Security? No, we're not, but reorganization creates an immediate appearance of action when in fact it is simply a sign of disruption and confusion.
Just make it fair for "all".
As stated in the prior article on this subject allocating any licenses based on color, sex etc etc is discriminatory.
The Transitional Approach
I generally oppose privatization and agree that it would cause problems here based on the present plans. That being said, I prefer the competition and better variety of private liquor stores and look forward to their presence when traveling. I think maintaining the state package stores while opening up licenses for private liquor stores would be a good way to transition. To help the state stores compete, the ABC could open up the supply channels to different distributors relinquishing their illusory monopoly on what brands are available.