Here's what I said:
Dear Representative XXX,Feel free to use this text. Among others, I sent it to Representatives Barrar, Clymer, DiGirolamo, Farry, Miccarelli, and Petri, the Republicans who most needed bucking up. (I copied Corbett (governor@pa.gov) and Rep. Turzai (mturzai@pahousegop.com) on all those emails too, good idea for encouraging party support.) Um...didn't bother sending any to Democrats. This has become a party issue for them, and their discipline is striking. So it's about shoring up Republican votes.
Today's the day! Privatization of the State Stores is coming down to the line. I sincerely hope that you are planning to vote with the Republican party and with your governor on this issue. They need your vote on HB790, as do the majority of Pennsylvanians who have supported privatizing the State Stores for decades. I strongly support privatization of the State Stores, and think the state's beer distributors are getting a pretty good deal in this bill. As amended, the bill has a lot of what I've wanted for years, and does it in a relatively gradual way.
You're not my direct representative; that's Frank Farry, here in the 142nd District, over in Bucks County. But on this issue, you're representing all of us. Please vote for HB790, and support Republican values in the PA House!
Sincerely, and thanks,
Lew Bryson
Send those emails, please share this around, and let's get this over the line and on to the Senate!
Hey buddy, why in the hell do you believe the beer distributors should get this good deal? I can buy Yuengling cheaper in Jersey! We need to reform the LCB, not abolish it. I don't want to see liquor proliferation on the street corners nor do I wish to see an already prosperous and private class of people become even richer. We need better operating hours, selection, import laws and frankly people like you need to stay the hell away from a legitimate source of public revenue. When we lose that revenue, state excise taxes will go up and those distributors will pass the cost along to us. Ready to pay more for their bottom line?
ReplyDeleteLet me see...I think...
ReplyDeleteYup. I disagree with you. Uh-huh.
I just want to see real reform that has been thoroughly discussed and thought out. Your ignorance of the benefits the LCB brings (and could bring through reform!) for sake of convenience is going to make the wrong people rich. We could wield this agency to benefit Pennsylvanians at large and still keep the liquor flowing. Believe me, I love craft beer too. It's just a damn shame to see people support the sale of what I see is a crucial public asset. We shall agree to disagree, friend.
ReplyDelete(Yes that is my comment above, I wished no longer to remain anonymous.)
Thank you for decloaking. Believe me, though, I am NOT ignorant of what the LCB "brings" to the state. Without competition, there is NO WAY we can depend on the State Stores to consistently deliver the selection, hours, and service that I see every time I go to liquor stores in New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Illinois, California, and Massachusetts. (I name those states because I'm there often, and I do go to liquor stores there.) The ONLY reason the State Stores have been on this desperate "modernization" kick is because they've been threatened with privatization. Take that heat off them, and they'll go back to their lackadaisical crap.
ReplyDeleteAnd we won't lose the revenue. The taxes will still come in. For everything we may lose in "profit," we'll make it back in sales and taxes that are no longer lost to border bleed.
In short, this is NOT a "crucial public asset." It is an annoyance, and an embarrassment, and a relic. It is NOT fixable. It cannot be effectively "modernized."
So yeah. We definitely disagree.
If you want to make a big change in government, then why not support the Marcellus gas industry to pay their fair share to extract gas from our Commonwealth? The PLCB makes good money for the state and pays their fair share in good paying jobs, safety (when was the last time a State Liquor store was robbed) and they are a professional place of business, not a quicky mart type franchise.
ReplyDeleteGo after real reform and leave the things not broken alone.
THANK YOU......I work for wine and spirits. I pray Istill have a job. Jobs are hard to find. We do an excellent job on the revenue we generate for agencies. The state police is one of them.If we go private minors will be purchasing alcohol. We card big time to prevent them from buying.no ID? No sale! Ya won't get the selection or sales or professional customer service.This govenor is NO GOOD! KARMA WILL GET HIM!
DeleteHey, do both! Up the shale taxes AND privatize! Sweet idea! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHey, you're welcome!
ReplyDeleteIf you're as good as you say, why wouldn't you get a job when the private liquor stores come to town? Do you know wine, do you know spirits? You should have a good shot at a job, I'd think; why wouldn't you? As for ID...HB790 requires ID for every single sale. The PLCB doesn't. (And your buddies at the Hellertown store sold $252 of booze to a 20 year old last week; it wasn't a sting, either, because the State Police aren't allowed to run those in your stores; they WILL be running them in the private stores, so maybe we'll be safer!)
And, well...I've been to private liquor stores in NJ, DE, MD, CA, NY, and MA...and the service and selection -- pardon my French -- kicks your ass. So I sincerely wish you good luck with the job search. But I won't miss the State Stores if this goes through. Not a bit.
Hey "pumpkin head," when you can write a comment that's not quite so crude, I might let it through. Or I might not. See ya.
ReplyDeleteJust standing up for the many families that own beer distributors.Like the family with four kids and three in college and runs the beer distributor with her husband 24-7 and wants to tell the Gov she will loose her business.Or the 60 year old owner who runs a large distributor and does well,stands in that place when its 95 out and 20 degrees in the winter,its so cold in that place you fell the cold go up your legs it must feel like bone Cancer.This Guy was counting on retiring in a year this beer distributor was his nest egg.Most of these owners do not have the money for the enhanced licenses.How about the Korean couple in their sixties that are so worried about losing their store she was close to having a stroke.These are your neighbors,big deal when you go into the state store that the mental patients that work their are clueless.
ReplyDelete1. These guys will all be able to SELL their distributorships for a VERY nice price to people who are willing to put in the work and money to open a wine/liquor store.
ReplyDelete2. You kinda had me until the end. That's pretty cold, fella.
Really and who in their right mind would buy a license from a beer distributor,yes i agree they will to get into the game,but it will be the big guys who can afford to compete with the guys left standing when the 1200 are sold and they decide to issue 600 more licenses,good luck in trying to cover your debt,could do it between Thankgiving and christmas when their were only a few state store in a township,now their might be 25 licenses sharing the wealth.Go ask your buddy at the Beer Yard what he thinks,he will cut off your free samples of the necture.
ReplyDeleteLew, no friends to take your profle picture? I agree the PLCB is a bad system but I think that a complete mess will ensue if/when ths thing passes. Here's where you say "if you mean blah blah is a mess i will gladly take it"
ReplyDeleteJust be careful what you wish for.
The fact is, Lew is mostly right. I've visited many states, and Pennsylvania has the worst selection of wine and beer than any other state (I haven't been in the south or in Utah where I understand it is worse). It's very inconvenient to buy liquor in Pennsylvania compared to most other states. A free market should make prices a little cheaper and should improve the selection enormously.
ReplyDeleteRecently, my husband saw a list of wines in a magazine he wanted to try. He went to a State Store to buy 4 of them in Pennsylvania and could not buy any of them since they weren't on the PLCB list. When I was in Maryland, I bought each of the bottles from the magazine list by stopping in ONE liquor store, where I could also have bought beer, liquor, soda and snacks if I wanted them.
My main issue is that I don't trust Corbett to do this right, particularly watching the recent lottery debacle. But the bill passed yesterday seems like a reasonable approach.
My fellow LCB employees, visiting this blog to flame Lew Bryson is as useless as customers coming into the store to lecture us on how the state shouldn't be in the business of selling alcohol.
ReplyDeleteYup. But feel free. It's a full-service blog. Keep in mind: I do moderate it, so if anyone gets too crude, I just don't post the comment. I don't mind people disagreeing with me, though.
ReplyDeleteJust so you're happy, Anonymous...I changed my profile picture. Better?
ReplyDeleteLew,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the victory last night. I know you've worked very hard for this for quite some time. This truly is a historic time. I sincerely hope that senate Republicans listen to their party and most importantly their constituents and vote for privatization. We have a long road ahead.
My senator is Scarnati. I live close to one of his offices. Rest assured, his staff will be quite familiar with me once this is all said and done.
I hope this comment doesn't come off as too aggressive. Haha.
People who vote for Privitization are simple DUMB ! Why get rid of a system that actually works and is profitable? The PLCB actually makes $$$$ for Pennsylvania and out of the whole country, Pennyslvania buys and sells the most liquor and wine. The PLCB obviously is doing something right.
ReplyDeleteAs for people thinking that wine and liquor could be cheaper if we privitize.....remember, the PLCB gives money (millions$$$) to the state every year....so that means taxes will go up. And who is to say bottles woukd be cheaper????....also, there are over 5,000 employees that work in the PLCB who receive great benefits and great pay within retail. Those jobs will be lost. So all you people who want to vote for privitization .....tell us why??!!!...convenience??? State stores are all over...hours????...9am-9 or 10 pm, sundays 12-5...how many more hours do you want???? Selection???? There are thousands of products in every store, choose one. Why get rid of a system that has beeb working for over 70 years???!!!
Nick, thanks. But Costco actually sells more than the PLCB, and Total Wine is catching up rapidly. Meanwhile, the main thing the PLCB does "right" is have a state-legislated and police-enforced monopoly on sales of wine and spirits. If you're the ONLY PLACE PEOPLE CAN GO TO BUY BOOZE, well, guess what: people are going to buy booze at your place. Doesn't mean they're happy about it, and it certainly doesn't mean you're doing a good job.
ReplyDeleteYour money arguments are so ridiculous I'm not going to bother. The taxes will still be in place, that's not going away, and almost all the people who go out of the state will likely come back and buy in PA...which means we'll have more than enough excess revenue to cover the PLCB's pathetically tiny "profit."
And yes, we do want better hours, we want to buy wine and beer in grocery stores, not state-owned drone-palaces, and yeah, I DO think prices will come down, as long as the Legislature smartens up and doesn't try soaking the wholesalers so much. But the BIG reason people want privatization? It's because the service in the State Stores is terrible. It's because the selection is static; if one store doesn't have what I'm looking for, there is nowhere else I can go, because it's ALL THE SAME.
The jobs? If the clerks are any good, there WILL be jobs for them. Don't let Windbag Wendell tell you differently. The UFCW has plenty of private industry members, or did you forget that?
You keep talking about people leaving, coming back. Do you have numbers of how much is lost, of course you don't. Border bleed occurs into Pa. also. I work at the border/outlet store in Washington Pa. We have so many people from Ohio an West Virginia coming into the store. The PLCB does zip code checks, I suggest you do more research before you make false statements. Make up 50 million from border bleed?
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, I'm sure that the mad drinking hordes of East Jebip, Ohio and Slopfoot, West Virginia are making a real dent in the State's debt, buddy. You're working at the incredibly cynical "outlet" store, where you sell artificially-low priced booze in liter bottles (that the PLCB won't allow the rest of us to buy) in a desperate effort to stanch border bleed. You must be the only person in the state besides Joe "$80.16/hour" Conti who believes border bleed doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteThe PLCB's own report admits that 45% of the people who buy booze in southeast PA go across the border. Is that a good enough number for ya? Doubt it. "The PLCB does zip code checks," if they do them as well as they do their half-assed beer registration database, I'll bet they're REAL useful.
Here's a tip to you: don't bother defending this ridiculous system, because it's indefensible.
Tea party Corbett Koolaide drinking wine snob or just regular snob
ReplyDeletePLCB doesn't have debt what do you mean add to the debt, I suggest you harass other state agencies. If you want to add debt privatize the PLCB
DeleteSnob's got nothing to do with it (and I'm not a big wine drinker at all), and neither does the Tea Party or Corbett, other than Corbett is willing to take a shot at giving the citizens of Pennsylvania what they keep trying to tell the Legislature they want: PRIVATIZATION OF THE STATE STORES. Not privatization of the lottery, or privatization of the Turnpike, or the prisons, or anything else...just the State Stores. Because they suck.
ReplyDeleteThey are called Wine and Spirits Shops
ReplyDeleteHa, you're kidding! "They are called Wine and Spirits Shops." Not by anyone outside of the government, they're not! That's really funny. Keep 'em coming, Anony, you're cracking me up.
ReplyDeleteAnd the debt? Read that post and come back again when you understand what I'm talking about.
Much better pic. You DO listen!
ReplyDeleteYour opinion! I LIKE that other pic; goofy is who I am. But this one's a pro shot, and I do like it. And I always listen. Honest. Don't always agree, but I do listen.
ReplyDeleteFrom following your twitter account I see the beer breakfasts and the rest of your schedule would make a man goofy. Do you have a driver?
DeleteMy schedule would make a normal person goofy; I am a professional, don't try this at home.
ReplyDelete