Do not let Senator McIlhinny and his Big Step Sideways liquor plan become what we will have to live with for decades to come. Make no mistake: if this goes through, there will be no further change to Pennsylvania's liquor and wine sales for years. We'd be much better off staying with the system as it is today for another year and fixing it properly than taking this Frankenstein plan that Senator McIlhinney has been pushing for the past three years. Ask yourself: where did this plan that no one really wants come from? Why is he so sure this is the way to do things? And the most important question: cui bono? Who benefits?
Write your Representative today and remind them that REAL privatization is what we want. Below is the letter I wrote to my Representative; feel free to use it or change it as you wish.
Dear Representative xxxxxxxxxxx,
I urge you and your colleagues, with the utmost vigor, to reject the
half-baked plan of Senator McIlhinny. He has been an obstructionist to
the privatization movement for years and continues in that role now.
The citizens want privatization: private stores, selling to private
individuals and businesses, while buying whatever they want from private wholesalers.
Anything less means a continuation of the gross ineptitude, graft and
malaise that is the current PLCB.
The selling of retail products is not part of government, the regulation
of those products is. A simple concept that needs to be adhered to.
Sincerely,
xxxxxxxxxxx
With the passage of the modernization bill likely, and Speaker Turzai about to be run out of town on a rail over this, what is left to do. Seems hopeless. I think the union set this all up.
ReplyDeleteThis is a long term game, it took 82 years to get to this point. Partial fake privatization of wine sales will put the state stores even more into the red, large buyers ie grocery stores, will push for delivery which the state stores can't do, they will push for greater amounts like a case, they will erode the state stores...maybe not this year or this decade but the slide has begun and it is just a matter of how fast it goes.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't this have to be passed by the House too? Any chance it can be stopped there?
ReplyDeleteThat's correct, but this close to the end of the year, and with increasing anger among the populace, there's a real "half a loaf" feeling taking over Harrisburg.
ReplyDeleteIf the House were to amend this to get rid of "flexible pricing," which is simply a scheme to charge more for almost everything at the State Stores, it would not be a terrible thing. And there's the Groundhog Day provision, which will provide much mirth for years to come.
In an interview today Mike Turzai said this bill will only bolster the State Stores. I still think the union is behind this and only feigning opposition. It was originally proposed by their buddy Paul Costa. The old Senate Republican State Store Defenders voted for it. The freshman Senate R's voted against. I think we are caught in a shell game and they have damn quick hands.
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