Carlisle AlcoAutoFest! Drive Yourself To Drink!

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PENNDOT) in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) are proud to bring you the first Carlisle AlcoAutofest! Due to the special relationship the PLCB has with PENNDOT, you will be able to drive to the Festival even in cars not sold or ever sold in Pennsylvania!(*1) Cars made before 1933 get in free!

Numerous vendors will be providing samples of drinks you can only "win" (the chance to purchase at variable pricing) by lottery in Pennsylvania. The PLCB will have two on-site stores selling the same things you can buy in every state store at prices only slightly to obscenely above list price. Taste the latest bottlings of Jim Beam White, Jack Daniel's Black, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, and many other standard brands (that all cost less in Maryland, only 42 miles away) straight from the well-known PLCB overstock trailers sitting in the sun behind the fenced-in area near the porta-potties! It will be an experience you won't find anywhere else in the country!

It's only 5 days. How hot can it get?

PENNDOT will have convenient mandatory breathalyzer stops all along the main drag and at all exit points. They'll be using the same technology as the Wine Kiosks - Amazing, and fun! Safety is  always the PLCB's number one concern (the safety of PLCB jobs, that is). The PLCB's number two concern is money, "profits" (hoho, what a funny joke), so for the first time, the BLCE will be working with the Department of Revenue to collect taxes on bottles "won" by happy participants.(*2)

At checkpoint, show ID, face camera and blow

See your government in action and your tax dollars at work! Take a virtual tour of the PLCB luxury tasting room. Learn how people with minimal qualifications decide what the entire state will be allowed to buy. See how knowing about Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry can get you an executive position with the PLCB! Visit the Career Desk and find out how a career with the PLCB is right for you. None of that product knowledge or RAMP training required, like in the private sector.

If you're in a grumpy mood, the PLCB has just the thing. Take a seat in the Courtesy Training tent (supplied by a real company owned by the real husband of a real PLCB regional manager...which really was nepotism!), and see how PLCB clerks deal with stress like JFK did during the Cuban Missile Crisis (*3)! Ask the PLCB staff why bottles favored by alcoholics are cheaper in Pennsylvania. You'll be amazed at the answer they give.

Souvenirs will be available in the PENNDOT tent. Just take a number and have a seat while you decide what commemorative item your Aunt Martha really wants. Maybe she'd like the "You've got a friend at AlcoAutoFest" plate (shown above in classic Pennsylvania license plate blue and gold), or the "10 Bootleggers per Year" BLCE flag. (I like the "After 85 years only $1,000,000,000 in Debt" picture frame myself.)

See you there!

(*1) You just have to prove that all PA taxes were paid the year of importation into the state.
(*2) Taxes based on what the PLCB would have charged if they had any product, not on list price.
(*3) That was a real lesson in the original Courtesy Training contract.
The Carlisle AlcoAutoFest is not a real event. But it's about dumb enough for the PLCB to try it. 

A Look Back At The Wine Kiosks

We have a guest post today. A member of our Facebook group -- Abolish the PLCB -- Rewrite the Code! -- Wende Phifer Mate, wrote a remembrance of the wine kiosks. It was so good, we decided to run it here (with permission, of course).

Great moments in PLCB history. 

Did anyone ever try to purchase wine from one these kiosks? I lamented the passing of them because they provoked more laughter than most comedians do.

Among the highlights:

• The instructions - not bad if you had an hour to kill.
• The ID checker - you had to put your drivers license into a slot, then look into a camera in order to pass on to the next test. Hard to do with a straight face.
• The breathalyzer - yes, you had to breathe into a weird tube before the machine would allow you to proceed. It did not always register that it had been breathed into until you were about to pass out from trying.
• Choosing your wine - you had to wade though the whole list of available wines on the touchscreen. There was no other way to make a selection. Needless to say, it took some people FOR...EV...ER to get through this part. 
• The delivery system - It was like those candy machines that push the item forward until it drops. Has there ever been a more stupid idea! I watched one of my bottles crash to the floor inside the machine before it got to the collection window. I read later that this was a very common occurrence.
• The bags - Plastic bottle bags were provided but three that I pulled out had slits in the bottom. Bottle goes in, bottle goes right out the bottom. (That's another sale!)

In short, they worked just as you'd expect they would, coming from the masterminds running the PLCB.


We miss them too, Wende, but like some of Joe "Da CEO" Conti's best moments, they are a gift that keeps on giving. Whenever the PLCB starts to seem reasonable, just remember: they're only one brain-fart away from another great idea like the Wine Robot Army. That's why we say:

Privatize.

And the winner is...Everybody but Pennsylvania.

Nice to know that the second largest wine retailer in the U.S. (at the moment) only influences a captive monopoly citizenry and nothing else.

Yeah, the PLCB keeps talking "world-class" and walking "second rate." That's certainly the impression you get from Infowine.com's annual list of the top 100 influencers in wine: not one PLCB employee is among them. Numerous other people in retailers like K&L (California) Total Wine (soon to be the #2 retailer ahead of the PLCB) and Costco (currently #1) made the cut. The list includes Masters of Wine (none in the PLCB - ever), winners of  the James Beard Foundation medal for the nation’s outstanding wine and spirits professional (none in the PLCB - ever), Members of the Guild of Sommeliers (none in the PLCB - ever) and innovators from across the country (none in the PLCB - ever...and no, the wine kiosks don't count).

I was part of the Livestock, Dairy,
and Poultry subcommittee. Of course
I'm qualified to be in charge of liquor!

No, Pewnnsylvania gets brainstorms like "A consortium of control states all buying from the PLCB", Wine Kiosks (never forget!!), using buying power to raise prices instead of lower them, and hiring a probation officer to run the whole operation. Just what are those free states thinking with their convenience, selection, and real certified professionals working to expand the boundaries in wine? Fools. They could be selling their customers wine that didn't make the cut in the real world like the PLCB does, and positioning it as some sort of benefit.

Just more examples of how the PLCB can never lead, never bring the citizens of the Commonwealth the same standard that the majority of people in the US enjoy. Just because mediocrity is well lit does not make it what the people want or deserve. People need government to regulate the safety of products, to make sure they aren't abused by things beyond their control, and to insure clean water and air.

They don't need government to decide what wine they're allowed to buy.

Privatize.

Great Minds, Great Quotes...and the PLCB

Apply great wisdom to the situation of the PLCB...and you realize how badly this has all turned out.

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Winston Churchill 

     What organization does that sound like?

“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” - Henry Ford

“Failure isn’t fatal, but failure to change might be.” - John Wooden

“Don’t bury your failures, let them inspire you.” - Robert Kiyosaki

“It’s fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” - Bill Gates

"It certainly wasn't a failure." 

- Joe Conti, about the failed wine kiosk program.

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” - Winston Churchill

     Then the PLCB must be an immeasurable success; 

that's all they ever do!

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." - Henry Ford

     "Intelligently" being the key word here. Of course, you have to have a Board that has some intelligence for this to work.

"Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure." - James Altucher

Graft, collusion, nepotism, lost paperwork, lying & 

destroying evidence are probably not what he's talking about.

"You have to be able to accept failure to get better." - LeBron James

Joe Conti, again: "It certainly wasn't a failure." Yeah, Joe: it was.

"Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive." - Andy Grove

Isn't that right, Charlie "40 Years At The PLCB" Mooney?

"Inability to make decisions is one of the principal reasons executives fail. Deficiency in decision-making ranks much higher than lack of specific knowledge or technical know-how as an indicator of leadership failure." - John C. Maxwell

And when you have all of the above -- plus $1.9 billion in liabilities -- 
you have the PLCB.

Tragedy in life normally comes with betrayal and compromise, and trading on your integrity and not having dignity in life. That's really where failure comes. Tom Cochrane
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/failure

"Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don't fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgement, repeated every day." - Jim Rohn

"If you can't admit a failure, you're not an entrepreneur. You are not a good business person. There's nothing brilliant about what you are doing." - Mark Cuban

Failure comes only when we forget our ideals and objectives and principles. Jawaharlal Nehru
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/failure

One more time: "It certainly wasn't a failure."

Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure. James Altucher
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/failure

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. Colin Powell
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/failure

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. Colin Powell
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/colin_powell_121363?src=t_failure

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. Colin Powell
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/failure

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. Colin Powell
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/failure

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. Colin Powell
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/failure

Why the PLCB will never be anything but 2nd class

Business, not some funny-money state-owned monopoly business but real business, is driven by being able to supply consumer wants and needs before your competition. Being first to market with innovative marketing and products, seeing a demand and then filling it before somebody else does. That's how business succeeds.

Here in Pennsylvania, we get none of that from the PLCB; we get wine kiosks. They were innovative only in the sense that some bizzaro administrator convinced a board of political donor lawyers with no business acumen, that people really want to blow into a tube and pirouette in front of a camera just to get a bottle of Barefoot. Lesson learned: not all innovation is good.

The PLCB, by its very nature, can only follow. The board, with no experience in the industry, follows the recommendations of the PLCB directors...who in turn also have no real experience in the industry. It's a classic case of the blind leading the blind.

Buy more Baaaaaarefoot!

They can't lead on new trends, because nobody has told them what those trends are yet. They have to be offered products; they do not have the ability or knowledge to search out new things. Even once they are told, there are months of delay while products are submitted and maybe (or maybe not) approved. Does that sound like striving to fulfill consumer wants? Or being a sheep and following the herd?

The PLCB got an award from the control state "business association" (it is to laugh!) this year for being the second first place awardee for the licensee online order system; somebody beat them to it last year. Since there are only seventeen control states left to choose from, and the PLCB got skunked on every major award last year, well, it was their turn this year. But it isn't innovation when you're doing something after it has already been done.

The PLCB only has one goal; to keep the PLCB open. That's what "flexible pricing" is all about. It will allow the agency to keep the lion's share of any price reduction from producers, just to keep its bloated carcass afloat, and "prove" it is good for the state; a "cash cow" as the defenders say. In real business, cost reduction is usually applied to the item for sale to gain an advantage over competitors. No reason to do that here, because in Pennsylvania, there are no competitors. The PLCB says they won't take advantage of this but since there is NO oversight, NO required item reporting, and NO indication to the consumer in the board minutes...How will we know? Wait a year and see that the gross margin went up from 45.46% to 50% or 55%, and realize that every point of that came out of our pockets? What recourse does that give us?

A monopoly with no competition, no need to advertise, with a workforce over 40% part time, and it can't survive on a 45% markup? Walmart's gross margin is 38.2% and Target is 36.1% and they seem to make money just fine. And they have to compete not only with each other but with all the other stores out there. Sounds like the American way of shopping: multiple retailers offering the consumer a choice, trying to get their business by offering lower prices or added value or both. Does that even remotely sound like the State Store System?

Remember: the only way the State Stores can make that extra $50-70 million is if they take it from your pockets, by raising prices, and by not giving you what every other real business does — a choice.

When something doesn't work, or work that well, you replace it.  Pretty simple, really.

Privatize.

Where the PLCB Money Goes: Then and Now - A Second Look

Let's have a look at what the PLCB has done with its money -- our money -- since the new millennium has started. I did this story almost 3 years ago so let's see what may have changed The numbers from 3 years ago will be in parenthesis. 

Fewer stores, more employees: In July 2000 there were 692 stores with 2,869 full time workers and 1,072 part-time workers In June 2016 there are 601 (604) stores, and as of May 15th, the last reported figure for FY 2015 there were 3,067 (3,080) full time workers and 1,606 (1,417) part-time workers. Stores decreased by 15.1% (it was 14.6% the first time I wrote this) and employees increased by 18.9% (13.5%). Just looking at it from 3 years ago there are 3 less stores but 176 more employees. 

Higher gross, lower margin: In 2000 the PLCB had record sales of $1,083,330,579 and record operating income of $89,868,893 or 8.30% of sales. In 2016 the PLCB had record sales of $2,430,209,796 ($2,171,946,398) and non-record operating income of $131,770,874 ($151,877,723) or 5.42% (6.99%) of sales a decrease of 53.14% (18.6%) in operating income for every dollar spent in sales compared to 2000. (Hardly surprising, given the increase in overhead represented by the previous point.) Looking at these numbers is there any doubt "flexible pricing" is going to cost you more?

Cost overruns: In 2000 the Auditor General found the PLCB incurred $408,000 in additional costs due to problems in Its implementation of a new computerized Warehouse Management System. In 2010 the Auditor General reported the PLCB incurred excess costs of $500,000 due to problems with the new inventory system (on top of being over budget). The inventory system was contracted for $25.8 million and as of June 2010 has cost $66.6 million, or 158% over budget. Of course, we are still paying the legal expenses for the wine kiosks too.  Who knows when that will end or how much it will total.

More for ads, less for education: In 2000 the PLCB contributed 0.76% of their expenses to drug and alcohol education.  In 2013, the biggest year they ever had up to that point, they donated only 0.66%, up from the 0.53% in 2012 (also a "record year"). This year it went up but only because they had to pay the $800,000 they shorted Drug and Alcohol programs last year. It is still below 2013 levels  The PLCB hasn't released how much they spend on advertising until this year where they said the spent "about $6,700,000" or over double what they spent on education.

More booze, less enforcement: In 2000, the PLCB gave 7.39% of their expenses to enforcement of the liquor code.  In 2015, the PLCB only did 5.51% (6.19%), a shortage that works out to over $9 million less for enforcement compared to 2000. So even though the number of licensed establishments increased and the population increased, there was less liquor code enforcement. State stores still aren't checked at all for compliance.

More embarrassment, less arresting? In 1992 the Auditor General reported that: "Policing bootlegging and illegal importation of liquor without payment of Pennsylvania taxes should be the primary mission of the liquor law enforcement personnel."  In 2013 there were 2 reported cases of “bootleggers” caught. It could be that the more support for privatization there is, the less border enforcement takes place...since that would highlight the huge problem of people who purchase out of state. It might have something to do with the $9 million the BLCE doesn’t get since they were no longer funded at year 2000 levels too. While I'm sure a few token bootlegging arrests were made in 2015 I haven't been able to find out how many.

The real PLCB new funding source.

Same lack of relevant experience: In 2000 no member of the Board has had any experience with running an enterprise anywhere near the size of the PLCB.  That hasn’t changed at all in any year since and they still only work 21-22 days a year. It hasn't changed with the current board, or ANY board either.

"Multiple weaknesses" in procurement: In 2000, the Auditor General reported that: “Weaknesses exist in the administration of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's warehouse management system consultant contracts.”  In the 2010 Audit the Auditor General reported that: “…multiple weaknesses in the PLCB award process, including lack of documentation. As a result we could not verify the PLCB adhered to proper procurement standards or exercised proper due diligence in awarding the contract.” (Remember that one of the PLCB “modernization” plans is to have less oversight in procurement although thankfully that part of "modernization" wasn't part of ACT 39.)

The PLCB has not changed in the sixteen years since 2000...Act 39 will only cause a larger bureaucracy with less customer service and more problems, that spends less on its very reason for existence: control. The problems are systemic, pervasive, and totally ingrained in the PLCB's processes and workforce. They won’t be fixed until the entire system is replaced with privately-run wholesale and retail operations -- as it is in the majority of other states and countries -- and they are able to fully concentrate on regulation, compliance, and enforcement, and not sales.

Privatization is Modernization – accept nothing less.

The Past is Prologue: don't forget the wine kiosks

"Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it." 

 We laugh at the idea of the wine kiosks now. That was in the past, and it was crazy, but, we tell ourselves, it's over now, and even the PLCB gets it. That was just that crazy Joe "Da CEO" Conti and his effort to make the PLCB "modern" (and maybe pay off some political cronies).

Except many of the people responsible for the wine kiosks, the bureaucrats, are still in place. Conti's gone, and PJ "PJ" Stapleton is gone, and James "Fall Guy" Short is gone (though still not sentenced...), but the faceless minions at 910 Capital Street are largely still there, still making some great decisions.

Remember those? Going $33+ million over budget for the new computer system, basically because they couldn't read a contract. Storing wine in un-air conditioned trailers in the summer. The keen plan to undercut PA wine producers with out of state house brands. And paying an out of state company about $4 million to come up with the incredibly generic "Fine Wine And Good Spirits." (Considering they were called "Wine and Spirits Shoppes" before, that comes out to about $2 million a word for adding "Fine" and "Good." Great spend, guys.)

Wine Kiosks Redux

Still, the wine kiosks were such a disaster, one that made Pennsylvania a national laughingstock, that it's worth having a full look at just how stupid it all was, and exactly how it happened. First, a summation from House Speaker Mike Turzai, from when the kiosks fell apart, back in September 2011.

Wine Kiosks A Big Mistake From The Beginning 
9/20/2011 – Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) released the following statement regarding the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s (PLCB) decision to end the wine kiosk program:
“I don’t think it comes as a shock to anyone outside the PLCB’s top echelon that the wine kiosk program was a complete failure. The kiosk program was a joke from the very beginning and the PLCB knew it. The agency’s own internal evaluation committee recommended against the kiosk idea. Yet the board went through with the cockamamie program anyway.
“This is just another example of why a government agency should not be attempting to mimic private industry. The wine kiosk program resulted in machines that sometimes worked, and sometimes didn’t; and it forced consumers to actually blow into a cumbersome machine – no one wants to buy wine that way. Real customer convenience will only come once the sale of wine and spirits is moved to the private sector.”

How did it actually happen? How did we wind up with the Incredible Robot Wine Army? We've got it all, right here.

PLCB Wine Kiosk Timeline: (be sure to check the links!)

• March 28, 2008 – Public Notice of Wine Kiosk RFP on PLCB and DGS websites; proposals due May 8, 2008. Simple Brands (Simple) is the only applicant.
• July 9, 2008 – PLCB RFP Evaluation Committee submits report to PLCB Chief Counsel’s Office for inclusion in that day’s board meeting. Report advises against contracting with Simple, not a well-founded business plan; failure to get advisory opinion from TTB (federal government) on permissibility of Kiosk program; awards Simple a score of 305 out of 1,000 points for its proposal.
• July 9, 2008 – RFP Evaluation Committee advised that the board would not be reviewing the committee’s report; committee members told to destroy all copies/documentation relating to the report; and that CEO Joe Conti would meet with them on July 10.
• July 9, 2008 – LCB members met and voted to approve Simple Brands proposal.
• July 10, 2008 – Conti met with Evaluation Committee members, told them not to speak of the evaluation; to destroy all copies; and their concerns would “be taken care of.” (Copies of cover-up RFP and emails)
• January 29, 2009 – Effective date for Contract 20080318 between LCB and Simple for 100 wine kiosk vending machines.
• June 30, 2009 – Relationship between Simple investors and former Governor Ed Rendell discovered: Investor Herbert Vederman gave Mr. Rendell $346,276, including a $100,000 lump sum in 2002, campaign finance records show. Mr. Vederman also served as the governor's campaign finance chairman. His business partner, Ira Lubert, meanwhile, gave Mr. Rendell $140,980 in that time period.
• June 23, 2010 – LCB places two kiosks in Harrisburg area grocery stores: Giant Foods in Dauphin County and Wegman’s in Cumberland County.
• June 30, 2010 – End of FY 09-10, Profit and Loss statement. Kiosk program showed a net loss of $255,077.
• July 9, 2010 – LCB conditionally accepts delivery of two kiosk machines subject to Simple remedying operational problems with the machines (doors failing to open or close, credit card machine failures and general failures with particular transactions).
• September 1, 2010 – Second letter sent to Simple giving conditional acceptance of two kiosks provided they remedy operational problems within 60 days of notice.
• September 8, 2010 – Contract with Simple amended to include a $1 per transaction fee (collected from the consumer and paid to Simple) and a 50-cent per bottle “advertising fee.” The amount to be paid to Simple for advertising was capped at $1.5 million per year. PLCB also warned Simple that it would not accept delivery of additional kiosks (only two were in operation at the time) unless the various problems previously identified by the board were remedied.
• October 15, 2010 – LCB announces roll-out of more kiosks throughout the state. According to LCB press release: “We’ve been testing the Pronto Wine Kiosks at two supermarkets in the Harrisburg area for the past three months,” said Board Chairman Patrick J. “PJ” Stapleton. “The kiosks have proven to be safe and reliable and we are looking forward to giving consumers across Pennsylvania the opportunity to do one-stop shopping.”
• December 21, 2010 – PLCB takes all 29 wine kiosks out of service due to systemic problems. (Note the date: right in the midst of the busiest booze sales of the year.)  LCB Press release: “While customer satisfaction with the six-month old kiosk program remains high, recent problems -- such as product not dispensing -- require us to take immediate action while we wait for the manufacturer to correct all of the identified issues,” said Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Chairman Patrick J. “PJ” Stapleton. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers and supermarket partners, but felt this temporary closure was critical to the future success of the program.”
• December 22, 2010 – Board notifies Simple that the Kiosks were taken out of service because Simple failed to remedy the various problems with the Kiosks. According to the Board: “While most of the several hundred specific instances were eventually resolved, the recurring nature of the problems confirms that the problems are systemic, rather than isolated.” Simple was advised to deliver fully functioning wine kiosks, and a certification that the systemic problems had been rectified by March 14, 2011
• December 30, 2010 – PA Auditor General notifies the board of its Wine Kiosk performance audit and advises LCB to preserve and maintain any and all documents and materials (including e-mails) relating to the kiosk project. 
• February 22, 2011 – Simple hopes to expand to smaller kiosks at convenience stores like Wawa and Sheetz – per letter to the Board.
• June 2010 – Wegman’s notifies LCB it will terminate its “kiosk” relationship.
• June 25, 2011 – Right-To-Know-Law request submitted to LCB by House Majority Leader Turzai requesting a copy of the TTB advisory required by the RFP; all costs associated with Kiosk program and all invoices to, and payments from, Simple pursuant to the contract
• June 30, 2011 – End of FY 10-11, Profit and Loss statement. Kiosk program showed a net loss of $843,369 for FY-10-11; Additional losses (not accounted for on prior FY P&L statement) of $24,877. Total net loss for project: $1,123,323.
• August 4, 2011 – Response from LCB indicates Simple failed to obtain TTB advice and that no billing had been done up to that point, but LCB was in the process of sending the Profit and Loss statement to Simple for payment.
• August 5, 2011 – Board demands payment from Simple.
• August 15, 2011 – Walmart advises PLCB it will not participate in the Kiosk program (23 machines were planned for Walmart stores).
• August 17, 2011 – PLCB chief Joe Conti indicates the agency will continue the wine kiosks once its litigation is resolved. "This was not a faulty fiscal decision," Conti said.
• September 1, 2011 – PA Auditor General issues audit detailing the failed program.
• September 16, 2011 – PA Independent reporter Eric Boehm reports, contrary to public comments and direct testimony, PLCB failed to conduct any market research in relation to the kiosk program.
• September 20, 2011 – PLCB announces the end of the failed kiosk program; it pulls the plug on remaining machines in several supermarkets. 
• January 25, 2015 – PLCB legal costs for the "free" kiosks have exceeded $300,000 pushing total losses to $1.5 million, not counting PLCB resources and personnel costs, which have never been accounted for.

So here it is, five years later, and the PLCB insiders and their supporters have made sure that NOBODY has been held responsible, even though there are absolute violations of the PLCB Code of Conduct in that: "No member or employee of the Board shall: use for personal gain or for the gain of others any information obtained as a result of service or employment with the Board, and not available to the public at large."

Having reports destroyed does not make things available to the public at large. Plain and simple.

While the Board may have changed, the entire Directorship are people who were brought up in this system, ingrained with this way of doing things and tacitly approved the entire fiasco by not doing or saying anything. These are the people who are going to "modernize" the PLCB. Do we really need them to do that? Do we need them at all?

Privatize.

We're better off privatized

After four years, I think it is safe to say that the liquor market in Washington state has settled down. Like everything else that is sold, big stores offer more and small stores offer less. People will pay more for convenience and pay less when buying quantity. Not every store is the same, which is a big change from the old state stores; just as it will be here.

How's Washington doing? Since the unions always make this about money, let's look at that. According to The Herald Business Journal total sales volume has increased 21%, and that doesn't count the couple of percent increase in border bleed. Border bleed isn't a product of privatization, Washington has always had it. It's no surprise, they've had higher taxes, and therefore higher prices then the adjoining states of Idaho and Oregon for decades. However, it isn't like the border bleed that Pennsylvania has; the population is smaller and there are no major population centers near the borders. An entire year of Washington border bleed is about a month's worth of what Pennsylvania loses.

How do we know this?  The states bordering Washington tell us that their sales have increased 7% after Washington privatized (and the booze taxes were jacked). For Idaho, that would be about $11.7 million and for Oregon about $34.8 million, or a total of $46.5 million per year being lost out of state after privatization.

In contrast, PA has at the very least $230 million in border bleed in just eight counties, and that was five years ago according to the PLCB itself.  Extrapolating for the entire state using the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association or the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America studies puts it closer to $500 million, or almost eleven times Washington's border bleed.

Sounds pretty bad, right? Let's hope that our politicians get it right and don't raise taxes when the state stores are privatized. Will convenience go up? No doubt. Will selection increase? Overall, yes, though not everywhere; the State Stores won't be charging Philly to have a full wine selection in Potter County. Will border bleed decrease? Certainly: if you make a product easier to buy locally, people will buy more locally. Look at Washington: even though there were 27% in added 'fees,' sales still increased 21%. If PA doesn't raise taxes that number will increase, and even a few percent more as border bleed decreases.

What do we need to replace financially? $110 million, give or take, which includes State Police funding, Drug and Alcohol education funding, and the average amount turned into the general fund for the past 5 years. Last year the PLCB collected $334.4 million in Johnstown flood tax and $130.2 million in sales tax. A total of  $464.6 million. If sales go up 25% then taxes collected go up 25% too and 25% of $464.6 million is $116.15 million. Done! The PLCB "profit" is replaced!  But there is more.

Every place that has fully privatized has tripled employment in the industry. New owners will be paying business taxes the PLCB doesn't pay, they will be paying license fees the PLCB doesn't pay, and they won't be looking to the taxpayer to address any future shortfall in pension and medical. You won't have as much bureaucracy to pay for, there won't be some unqualified person deciding what the entire state is allowed to buy, there won't be the graft and corruption of state employees, there won't be people who thought kiosks were a good idea, there won't be state stores trying to hide behind 4 different names and there won't be the PLCB as we know it now. Certainly a good thing.

What there will be is NORMAL. Or at least far closer to normal than what we have currently and normal is good. Just ask the majority of the population how much better free enterprise is over state monopoly.

PLCB - The Avis Of PA Corruption

Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Celebrates the First Federal Charges of the decade!

 

Harrisburg: The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board today welcomed local officials and the public to the grand sentencing of the former Fine Wine and Good Spirits Premium Collection Store Marketing Director Jim Short. After the guilty plea, refreshments selected by Mr, Short himself will be available at many State Stores.

Jim's new address offers a warm, welcoming atmosphere for convicts to browse the extensive selection of PLCB Wine and Spirits magazines. The focal point of his new residence is a large center table in the mess hall, where convicts can always find staff to answer questions or provide recommendations. Jim is looking forward to seeing his old friends, Joe "Water Heater" Conti and Pat "PJ" Stapleton soon. Perhaps even Jerry "Muddy" Waters will stop in too.

The PLCB only has us in Liquor Jail, we have them in REAL Jail
Rotten at the top, rotten at the core..

Just like the old AVIS commercial that said they try harder, the PLCB is shooting to be the most corrupt agency in PA, displacing the Turnpike Commission, which held that distinction for years.

This is the brain trust that started "modernization," wine kiosks, spent millions to come up with "Fine Wine And Good Spirits," went into competition against Pennsylvania's wineries in their own state (though strangely all the paperwork has gone missing and nobody can remember who came up with that idea). Did I mention the wine kiosks?

This is what the PLCB has been like for decades, a good ol' boy network of political hacks and has-beens doing favors, taking bribes, arranging sweetheart deals, swimming in nepotism, and generally not giving a crap (until their position is threatened, that is).

Is this what Pennsylvania needs? Or would we be better off with the free market that is proven to work in the 42 other states that don't sell alcohol to their citizens?  What do we really get for this system? Are we safer? Not if you look at the national statistics. Are we better served? Let's ask the people who spend upwards of $300 million out of state: regularly. Are we satisfied? In 40 years of scientific polling there has never been one in favor of the state stores over private retail. I guess the citizens know what works since private retail is how you buy everything else in the state!

This isn't the time for new paint and baskets, this is the time for real change. Change to something that works and has worked since the founding of the state: the free market. The time for 1930's thinking is past and has been for a long time. It is time for the PLCB to be tossed on the junkpile.

END IT, DON'T MEND IT

Tell your Senator everything the PLCB's doing!

I copied this from a Facebook post; I don't think the original poster will mind. The idea is that while the Senators fiddle and diddle and talk about "modernizing" the PLCB instead of privatizing it -- privatization that the majority of Pennsylvanians continue to support -- we should remind the Senate what a great job the PLCB is doing. So...get on the phone, send an email, and let your Senator know that the PLCB deserves credit for all the things they're doing!

• Tell them that you really thought the wine kiosks were innovative 
• that you thought the date-rape ads were on target 
• that your mother liked the vodka 
• that you didn't mind that your wine sat in an non-air conditioned trailer in the summer 
• that you think the PLCB didn't have anything better to spend the now $35 million+ in computer cost overruns on 
• that bringing back the CEO under investigation for graft is a great idea 
• that TableLeaf is the best thing since the PLCB spent over $4 million to rename Wine and Spirits to Fine Wine and Good Spirits
• that you're impressed with the string of record annual sales figures (and the bookkeeping skills needed to explain why the net assets of the PLCB are negative)
• that thy have an amazing jobs program going that has more employees now with 601 stores then there were with 692 stores in 2000
• that it's great that the PLCB spend more on advertising than on education
• that they're saving money as the 3rd largest purchaser of wine in the world by not bothering to have a trained sommelier on staff?
• that smile training should be mandatory for all state workers (especially when you can keep it "all in the family")
• that you really appreciate having 90 stores less than there were in 2000 so there wouldn't be a liquor store on every corner. 

Pretty amazing when you add it all up, isn't it? Remember: call your senator today...and then call them again next week. And the following week. And so on, till you get a good reason why they'd rather vote against what the citizens want than for it.

Joe Conti's Greatest Hits

Joe Da CEO - 12/13/06 -- 2/2/13

Joe Conti's gone, and we're somewhat sorry to see him go. He was, as the alliteration-happy Commonwealth Foundation might put it, The Autocrat of Arrogance, King of The Kiosks, notorious Nabob of Nepotism, and the Duke of (Tone) Deafness. He will be back as a consultant, of course -- he is also the Prince of the Public Trough -- so we have hope that he'll still deliver us a final Endowment of Embarrassment!

In the meantime, here are our most fond memories of Joe Da CEO, and what he did to further the cause of privatization of the State Store System, along with a range of 1-20 points for each incident's CONTI score (that's Corruption, Oblivious-to-Consequences, Nepotism, Thick-Wittedness, and Insider-itis). Plenty of links to the blogposts that describe them too, and I have to say, they're some of my favorites. It was so much fun to rant about Joe Da CEO.

Joe's Job. Conti's CEO position was created out of whole cloth by Governor Ed Rendell, and apparently filled without advertising, without any other candidates being interviewed, and without any real clue on why it was needed. Here's the story. That might explain why Conti seemed to do nothing for the first two years he was in the position (though we were told he spent that time..."planning").
Score: 4. More about Joe, than it is Joe...but the shape of things to come.

Dr. Rendellstein's Monster. This was a minor incident, but one of my favorites, because it illustrated just how overly-independent the PLCB is. Rendell hears about the original TableLeaf "rebranding" idea, and has Conti in to talk about it. "The governor expressed his opinion that the PLCB stores as currently named were recognizable and had a brand value of their own and he strongly discouraged PLCB from attempting to change the names of the stores... The governor was vocal in making his opinion known." Conti recalled the meeting differently. "[Conti] described the meeting with Mr. Rendell as "more a directional discussion" covering a wide range of topics. "The governor was delighted with everything he saw," said Mr. Conti." Just amazing.
Score: 8. A small gem of Continess.

Playing Restaurant Favorites. On Conti's watch: the PLCB opened a mini-winestore inside Garces Trading Company, Jose Garces deli/grocery. Really kind of cool...and really kind of unfair to all the other BYOs in Philly who would love to have a little winestore in-house, but never got asked (except when Conti allegedly offered one to Stephen Starr...see below). No more have opened, and Garces has distanced himself from the concept.
Score: 9. Tone-deaf, but Conti was not too publicly vocal about it. 

TableLeaf. He spent a lot of money on it for no understandable reason: rebranding a legal, police-enforced monopoly? When that got too ugly, he changed his mind and taped it on the front of a PLCB-created "house" wine brand. And then, when people got pissed off that the house brand was deliberately undercutting private winemakers...he lied about it.
Score: 10. Classic Conti characteristics, but a fairly small affair; an extra point for some bold lying. 

Fighting Privatization. Despite noting several times that it wasn't his job to fight privatization -- that was all up to the Legislature! -- Conti spent a lot of public time doing just that. One of the best was during this Legislative hearing, where he did what he does so well. He lied (about how much money privatization would "lose" the State, and about the results of the PLCB's internal review of the wine kiosks), he blustered, he threatened, and he obfuscated...all of it while fighting the idea of privatization, which he said he wasn't there to do.
Score: 11. No corruption, just doing his job. Wait...he said it wasn't his job. It's confusing.  

How many wine kiosks did you want?

The Death of the Wine Kiosks. Almost as much fun as the spectacle of the Wine Kiosks themselves was Conti's complete loss of reality-grip when the The Invincible Wine Robot Army (see below) was finally defeated at the Battle of Wegmans. Faced with total annihilation of his cherished idea, and the utter commercial failure of the misbegotten wine automata, what was Conti's reaction? "It certainly wasn't a failure." "I still think there is merit to the program." "It didn't end up successful, but we learned a lot and we will end up better for it."
Score: 13. Would have been higher, but no nepotism or (detectable) corruption. Just arrogance and stupidity. 

The Courtesy Contract. If you've forgotten...the PLCB let a contract (on a low-ball bid) for "Improving basic customer service skills" to a company run by the husband of a PLCB regional manager. Conti's watch, and he loved it: "This is a vast adventure, and it's one we have to take," he said And the training was ridiculous, probably unnecessary (there was a customer complaint once every 288,000 transactions...), and ineffective: customer complaints actually went up after the training. And Conti decided to continue it. The Auditor General said: "Although this contract was awarded according to the letter of the law, there are several incidents that occurred that raise serious concerns and put the PLCB's procurement procedures in question." Conti's reaction? Vindication. Classic.
Score: 14. No obvious personal corruption. And the nepotism was someone else's... 

The Wine Kiosks (AKA The Invincible Wine Robot Army). The most amazing idea that could never work. Here's a video of just how ridiculous they were in case you'd forgotten:



Conti oversaw this Carnival of FAIL from the initial flawed idea, through the single-bidder contract (to the completely inexperienced company that was heavy with contributors to Gov. Rendell's campaign), through overriding the advice of a PLCB internal review to reject the idea (which he then lied about to a Legislative hearing) to the bloated execution (which hid costs) and the eventual disaster that was the implementation. You can see most of that here.
Score: 18. Close to perfect, but no obvious nepotism.

Contigate. According to the state Inspector General, Conti accepted Phillies and Union tickets from PLCB vendors and "lobbied" vendors and restaurateur Stephen Starr for a job for his daughter; Conti may also have hinted in the same conversation with Starr that maybe Starr could get one of the sweet in-store PLCB "winebox" pop-up stores like Jose Garces got (and NO ONE ELSE seems to be able to get). And...he was dumb enough (or arrogant enough; your pick) to use his State-issued Blackberry to do the business.  Score: 20. Doesn't get much more Conti than this.


Ah, Joe, Joe...it was great to have you around. It kept the fight interesting, and kept it fair, too. I mean, it was just 2/3 of the citizens of the Commonwealth vs. the UFCW and the Legislature! But you and your great ideas like the wine kiosks kept us going!

Too bad the PLCB's dumb enough to hire you back at $80 an hour as a consultant. Yeah, really, they are...on an official "emergency" basis. That's a move so dumb you'd almost think it was Joe's... Score: 22.

Wine Kiosks DEAD; Conti says, "It certainly wasn't a failure."

The wine kiosks are dead, they've been taken off life support. As I predicted, the PLCB has used their trumped-up charges against the kiosks' hapless creator, the so-called "Simple Brands," as an exit strategy. They are leaving this debacle bruised, battered, smoking, and humiliated, the kiosks -- their bright, innovative idea to give the consumer what they want (that their own people told them was "deficient") -- rejected by Wegmans and Walmart as well as the state's consumers...and what does Joe Da CEO have to say about the whole thing, this 15-month circus of embarrassing failure?

"It certainly wasn't a failure."

and

"I still think there is merit to the program."

and

"It didn't end up successful, but we learned a lot and we will end up better for it."

Can we run a drug screen on this man? Because he is not in touch with reality at all.

So where are we...the program was an abject failure (except at making the PLCB's top management look like the arrogant, clueless bureaucrats they are), the PLCB is going after "Simple Brands" for $1.2 million in charges (that the company's lawyer -- finally making comment -- called "malarkey," noting that the PLCB was overbilling for maintenance and hardware) through the Board of Claims (a system Conti admitted was glacially slow, noting that one case took 18 years to settle), and, oh yeah, "Simple Brands" is suing the PLCB for $81 million in damages.

And the PLCB (and AG Jack Wagner, and Senator Scarnati) want us to "take off the handcuffs" of the Liquor Code to let them realize their full potential as a government-owned-and-run monopoly business? Maybe we ought to get out some actual handcuffs.

Auditor General: "The Board and the vendor lost credibility..."

I'm back from vacation...and apparently just in time! Auditor General Jack Wagner's audit of the wine kiosk fiasco -- sorry, program -- is out today, and it's pretty much unforgiving. Well, the man's an auditor; of course it's not forgiving, that's not his job, and this was a fiasco. Some pertinent stuff (the full report's here in PDF format; the AG's statement is here (added emphases are mine, of course)):

Wagner’s special performance audit...chronicled the problems that existed from the beginning of the ill-fated kiosk program. The six findings, are:

• The board used kiosk technology that effectively controlled the purchase of alcohol (about the only positive statement in the whole report)
  
• The board followed state procurement requirements, but the request for proposals did not enable fair and just competition
  
• The board and the sole responding vendor negotiated the kiosk contract in ways more advantageous to the vendor than necessary
  
• The board spent $1.12 million more than it took in over two fiscal years and has invoiced the vendor for the losses. But the vendor has not paid
  
• The board and the vendor lost credibility when the kiosks malfunctioned,
  
• The board overstated the convenience of the kiosks

Note that he says "effectively controlled the purchase of alcohol." Not "efficiently," or "nonintrusively." The same thing could have been "effected" by a live person standing at each kiosk -- which the malfunctions eventually also required -- and the statement would have still been true. But weak competition on an RFP, vendor-favorable negotiations (when the vendor is heavily invested in campaign contributions to a sitting governor), losing money on a supposedly cost-free project, operation failures during the busiest sales season of the year, and the total cluelessness on the definition of "convenience?"

Look, read the statement, which covers most of this. Read the actual report, and pay particular attention to Section C, beginning on page 71, where the Board responds to the report. The AG's report takes that response and pretty much shreds it, saying over and over that the Board simply chose not to respond to some (the most awkward) of its findings.

But the message here? The wine kiosk program was a failure. Black and white, accountant-certified, this thing was a catastrophe. The break-even point -- as stated by the PLCB -- was 210 bottles a week per kiosk; only 3 out of 32 machines met that threshold; 17 -- over half! -- sold under 100 bottles a week. They simply didn't work: in the first three months of operation, "auditors determined that 1 out of every 21 transactions was problematic." That's leaving the general shadiness of the contract and the apparent lack of any escape hatch for the Board aside!

And the response from PJ Stapleton (who apparently may have been reading a different report)? "As it has done throughout this process, the Board will attempt to take whatever steps it can to maximize the possibility that the wine kiosk program will succeed."

PJ. Dude. It's over. Walmart blew you off. Wegmans blew you off. Where are you going to put these things? In Post Offices? In courthouses? Wait, wait, I know: how about in the State Stores! 

As I have said for a long time, the major problem at this agency -- beyond the tonedeaf attitude, beyond the terrible business model, beyond the insane insistence that the little stores out in the sticks carry thousands of SKUs when there's no demand for them, beyond the personnel system that doesn't properly reward product knowledge and sales competence, beyond all these serious problems -- is hubris. PJ and his Pals on the Board, Joe Da CEO, and their lieutenants have consistently responded to criticism with an attitude of 'you don't understand, what you call failure is innovation; what you call unethical is faithful to the letter of the law; what you call inconvenient is controlling the best interests of the people of the Commonwealth.' As if we are somehow too stupid to see that this is simply very bad management.

Let me lay this out in such straightforward terms that it can't be ignored.

• The wine kiosks are a public relations and sales disaster that have indeed cost the Board credibility
• The very real disaster of the PLCB's Oracle-based inventory system (subject of another audit) that wound up costing the Board hundreds of thousands in ruined wine (though they say it's fine, and what the hell do they care) and ad hoc storage fees in an absolute orgy of managerial ignorance
• The "courtesy contract," which exposed the PLCB's total lack of basic sales skills and was awarded in a way that showed poor judgment and created the appearance of a conflict of interest, not to mention being an expense that was not worthwhile...according to the AG again (in...yeah, another special audit)
• The embarrassing spectacle of over 20 workers at the PLCB's Philly warehouse being fired for undisclosed "financial irregularities" -- and they are still "undisclosed" 10 months after Joe Da CEO promised an investigation
• The PLCB's large number of unprofitable stores -- in a police-enforced monopoly -- and questionable business models
• The beer registration raid fiasco, where the PLCB's ineptly-kept beer registration database led to pathetically comic 'raids' by armed BLCE officers on three respectable Philly restaurants and one respectable Philly wholesaler, costing them thousands in lost time and sales (read it all here and here)
• The terrible record on nuisance bars (sure, it's the BLCE doing the enforcement, but the PLCB does the administrative punishment, and it's soooooo sloooooowwww....)

That's just in three years. Three years! I mean, speaking pragmatically, PJ and Conti have been a godsend; they're making my job easier. But speaking as a PA taxpayer? When are they going to resign because of their incompetence?! These are major screwups, this is a terribly run agency that lurches from one disaster to another, reacting to the Legislature, arrogantly ignoring the Governor and lawyerly disagreeing with the black and white criticisms of the Auditor General. But who do they answer to? Apparently no one. Which is, in my mind, one of the biggest Reasons of all that they need to be completely restructured, and the retail monopoly taken away from them.

A Plea for Civility; a plea for truth

First, watch this video. (very sorry; it's no longer available. Glad I took the time to transcribe so much of it!) It's Joe "Da CEO" Conti wrapping up his testimony at last week's Liquor Control Committee hearings (which were, apparently, largely about Conti and Hereditary Union President For Life Wendell W. Young IV speaking for as long as they could...probably because they know that if you talk till lunch, most legislators will leave and not give any time to your opponents) with "a little bit of a challenge for civility to the proponents of the bill (HB11)."

He then quoted legislative press offices and "a think tank" -- which I assume is the Commonwealth Foundation -- making remarks about the PLCB and him that...well, they were things like "The PLCB doesn't care about the consumer; ineptitude, goofy, or systematic malfeasance," and "a state system that is broke, even Joe Conti realizes it," and "a state of perpetual tone-deafness...the PLCB should stop acting like coneheads and communists."

Okay, Joe's feelings are hurt. (Mine are too; he didn't say anything about some of the stuff I've said about the PLCB.) But he's clearly never been the target of a Tony Auth cartoon (looks like a conehead to me). This is the "rough and tumble of public life:" man up. I get hate mail all the time -- really, people actually bother -- and you don't see me crying about it, and certainly not to a legislative committee...oh, right. Conti is a former legislator (who didn't get re-elected because he was completely tone-deaf about the legislative pay increases a few years back), and he's looking for professional courtesy from former colleagues. Nice. If only we could all expect such courtesy.

But he blew it -- for me, at least, and I hope for anyone else with a spot of brain matter -- when he then immediately started spouting the UFCW party line about newspapers. See, the UFCW has seen that almost every newspaper across the state has editorialized in favor of privatization, often scathingly, and they needed a response. Their response: the newspapers are doing it for money, because of all the advertising bucks they'll make off private liquor stores. (Though the PLCB spends big bucks on advertising now, and the Inky runs full-page ads for cross-border liquor stores -- more proof of border bleed, Joe.)

So Conti's pleading for "civility," and the first thing he says after that "challenge" is this: "Now we understand many of the proponents are financiers of print media. I've met with most of them, they're very up-front about it, we get that. We understand that the think tank perhaps receives funding from these financiers..." And then he drops that, and goes off in a completely different direction of how "we welcome" this debate ("relish it," he also said). But he's slyly planted the stinking smear-seed that maybe the Commonwealth Foundation is just doing this for money, at the behest of "financiers" who are just doing it for money. Says that, and doesn't back it up, or have the guts to stick it home. Does he deserve civility?

And then he -- well, I was about to say "he lies," but let's be civil and say he once again clouds the issue by saying "If we disappear, your income tax has to go from 3.07 to 3.21 [percent]. You know that." What's he talking about? He's talking about The Johnstown Flood Emergency Tax and the 6% state sales tax that make up approximately 3/4 of the PLCB's "contribution" to the General Fund. And he's 'clouding the issue' by leaving you with the impression that if the PLCB is no longer the state's booze seller, no booze taxes will be collected, and the state will make up the difference with income tax. That's not lying, but it's the next best (worst?) thing.

He goes on to shamelessly wrap himself in the flag. Better get a kleenex ready. "We must be mindful when you walk by a playground, speak to a Rotary Club or a local Chamber, or when you visit a senior center, those Pennsylvanians are benefiting by the performance of this agency. And we get up every day, and we want to do a better job for the people of Pennsylvania. There's really no reason for the incivility we see." He's made selling vodka into an altruistic mission; amazing.

So right after saying there's no reason for incivility...he makes a threat!* Conti issues a challenge (he's got a whole pocketful, apparently) "Michael [Turzai] and Jonathan [Newman] and Matthew [Brouillette]" to debate the issues. "But let's keep it on point, because I'm warning you: if you get off point...[dramatic pause] I'm for the people of Pennsylvania. And anything that either purposely or inadvertantly diminishes our performance and diminishes our return, hits the pocketbook of the people of Pennsylvania, the innocent folks who may not be as emotionally invested in this as you, as the proponents are."

Conti calls for us all to be civil. Then he smears the intentions of the proponents of privatization, he deliberately misstates the results of privatization, he claims moral high ground (for an agency that performs retail sales?), and dramatically threatens his opponents. I don't owe Joe Conti anything. He's trying to set the terms of this debate to benefit the PLCB and himself. He says "financiers" perhaps fund the privatization proponents? He benefits directly from privatization not happening; he has a $150,000 a year job that will disappear if privatization goes through! Is it uncivil to bring that up?

What's civil in political discourse? No one's brought anyone's personal life into this (with the necessary exception of the husband-wife relationship between the winner of the PLCB's 'courtesy contract' and his wife, the PLCB regional manager), no one's made any personal threats, no one -- to the best of my knowledge -- has engaged in anything beyond a bit of name-calling. Does Conti ever watch Fox News or MSNBC (or Olbermann, wherever the hell he is now)? There is no need for excess civility; it's clearly an attempt to hobble the debate in favor of the PLCB and the status quo.

Meanwhile, Conti has other problems. It appears that earlier in the hearing he lied -- sorry, Stacey Witalec says Conti "misspoke," whatever -- about the PLCB's committee looking at the wine kiosks. That's in the Tribune-Review today. "In response to a question about that recommendation, Conti told the House Liquor Control Committee the report did not recommend against the LCB's plan." Oops, turns out not to be the case: "A review by LCB Chief Counsel Faith Diehl found the final report "recommends against going forward and does contain the word deficient," Witalec wrote in an e-mail.

Where's the civility in lying -- sorry, misspeaking, I keep getting that wrong -- to a state legislative committee made up of your former colleagues? 

*He also makes an amazingly inappropriate Blazing Saddles reference, but you'll have to watch the video, words don't do it justice. And remember the actual line that Conti bowdlerizes...amazing.