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| Stealth bill, zooming under the UFCW radar! |
"Today the House concurred with the Senate on historic liquor modernization legislation that provides greater customer convenience to the people of Pennsylvania. As I have always said, my goal is to modernize the sale of liquor and beer in Pennsylvania to ensure convenience and satisfaction for customers. Once the bill reaches my desk, I will conduct a final review of the legislation to ensure it meets my goals of enhancing the customer experience, increasing much-needed revenue to help balance our budget, and bringing our wine and spirits system into the 21st century."So...maybe, maybe not, but it's going to be hard for him to veto a bill that passed with significant Democratic support that doesn't actually privatize the State Stores or the wholesale system. What it does do is potentially take a LOT of sales away from the State Stores, and UFCW Local 1776's Wendell W. "President For Life" Young IV knows it. "This is the first step to killing the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and the Republicans know it," Young said.
It's a wobbly step, a baby step, and a head-shakingly stupid step that recapitulates the useless mistake of the case law...but it is a step. The State Stores will be in deep crap from competition, and things will get worse, especially as people want more convenience. They're going to be irked that they still have to go to the stinky old State Store to buy liquor; they're going to be irked by the stupid four-bottle rule; and they're going to be angry and confused that they can't buy booze at every supermarket and gas station. And that's what's going to break the dam. Finally. The end may be in sight.
Privatize, don't modernize.
I find odd that last year Mike Turzai had a fit when his bill was amended in the Senate. Not a word he wrote was left in it. He said he would never let it come up for a vote. Claimed if it passed he would never be able to move on to full privatization. Now I've seen a tape where he takes credit for moving the state into the 21st century??? Calls it "his bill"??? A step toward getting the whole enchilada??? I don't believe anything he says anymore. The PALCB got everything on its modernization wish list. Pyrrhic victory at best.
ReplyDeleteI see Wendell is using the same lies he has in the past. Using the PFM report to say how much this will cost. Too bad the PFM report never even considered anything like HB 1690. How much is it costing to keep the PLCB? Less jobs, less taxes collected, less employed, less selection, less convenience and still $240 million in the hole.
ReplyDelete"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." From this blog just six months ago. You two change colors a fast as chameleon Turzai. Same bill. It was bad. Now it's good. Or did you decide keeping the LCB "around for decades" is a good thing after all.
ReplyDeleteSo, you would have us do a King Canute and rail at the tide not to come in? It's done. I'm finding the positive. It was bad, because it was not what we wanted. Now we have it, we're stuck with it, so it's better than it was. Is it perfect? No, but I've never been one to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. This is compromise, this is what it looks like. It looks better than nothing, but neither side is happy with it. That's how you know it's a good compromise.
ReplyDeleteDon't try to divide the side. Take that crap back to the newspaper comments sections.
There will not be less sales in State Stores as you indicated. Read the bill. All new licensees that sell wine have to order through the liquor stores and guess what, a $7.00 bottle of wine in the liquor store will probably cost you $12.00 in the grocery store. Look at 6 packs in grocery stores, they are just as expensive as they are in bars for the most part. This bill does nothing other than allowing me to buy a bottle of Wild Irish Rose at 10:59 PM.
ReplyDeleteBlah blah blah. Everyone's telling me to "read the bill." I HAVE. And what's going to happen is that the PLCB -- not the "State Stores", the wholesale arm -- is going to be selling that bottle at a discount to the stores, so the SS margin goes away, and the PLCB is going to be obligated to deliver -- which they aren't now -- racking up more costs (costs any other wholesaler has to deal with), and there is going to be less traffic in the State Stores, which means being open on Sunday is just going to cost them more money. State Stores go deeper in the red; prices are not better at grocery stores; public finally realizes what a horrible bargain Wolf has saddled them with; real reform is demanded. Finally we will have the "general hue and cry" for privatization that John Jones noted in the quote at the top of the blog. And that's why this is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteBTW, the people in Washington are paying more too, and overall, they're positive about the change because they can buy where they want now. I hope Pennsylvanians don't get too happy, especially because we'll still have to buy our liquor in the State Stores, but I'm sure this is going to wake people up. Chipping away. This is mostly definitely not a bill that does nothing.
You and your reading problem again. "You two change colors a fast as chameleon Turzai." Nowhere have I said this is a good thing. It makes the PLCB bleed which is good in a general way but I think it will push the state to be like Virginia and I don't like that either. Unlike you and your lizard brained yellow shirted lemming like compatriots. Lew and I can disagree on things and have in the past.
ReplyDeleteSo, is it better that what we had? Possibly, I'm not that much of a wine guy so it doesn't really effect me. The beer part isn't that good because it still relies on the quota system and the liquor part sucks as much as ever since nothing has changed. My goal is no state stores, no government wholesale. Period. I hope it goes like Lew says but I'm not seeing it at the moment.
Next time you want to make up something at least try to be a bit more esoteric in your calumniation, you're embarrassing yourself.