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

2 years in - time to say thanks

Here it is, 2 years since I started writing the blog thanks to Lew's kind offer.  Hard to believe there could be so many things wrong with the PLCB that I could write almost 140 posts in that amount of time. I hope I've kept up the standard Lew set when he started this blog.

2 down, less than 1 to go with luck!

I couldn't have done this as well as I hope I'm doing without all the clerks and office workers passing along tips and information; in a number of instances, things I would never have found out about by myself.  I'm sure our local union stalker would love to root out who they are, but I delete their emails and chats so their identities are protected.

There are a number of Legislators that need thanking. They know who they are, and I appreciate them helping to further the cause. And of course, the readers, to whom I hope this has been a source of information and thought. I know we have PLCB employees who read this but never act on what is brought up. They still can't get all the "Jack Daniel's/Jack Daniel/Jack Daniels" entries correct and I've mentioned that three or four times just this year. 82 years isn't long enough, I guess. (Guys, a tip: put a sticky note on the side of your monitor: "It's Jack Daniel's") Of course, thanks to the FBI for proving what we all knew.

I know we have Legislators on both sides who read us too, some of them want to do what their constituents want and some do not, and some do but aren't allowed by their party, and there are some who don't have a clue what this is all about. Horse, water - you know the rest.

My standard has always been to be able to back up and prove all the factual information I post and to accept anything that disproves it. So far I've not had any takers. I intend to continue that policy, because factual information is the basis of any reasonable discussion.

Here's hoping that year number 3 will be the last, because the State Store System will be a relic of the past.



On a side note to another story, it has now been two months and the PLCB still hasn't figured out how to use those computers enough to put out unaudited numbers for the year.

The Citizens say Democrats holding up Liquor Privatization.

 Commonwealth citizens — we, the people forced to shop at State Stores — issued the following statement today.

The Citizens are disappointed in the House and Senate Democrats for not being able to help put together a budget that builds on the record education funding of last year and provides the relief from the state store system we have been asking for over the past 45 years.

Citizen spokesman Joe Sixpack reiterated that "There has never been a scientific poll in favor of the state stores. Given the choice of our current system or what the people see in free states they choose freedom every time." He continued with, "The state stores will never be as convenient as 1800-2400 private stores are, they will never be able to provide the selection of what a real super-store can, stores that have more on the shelf than the entire state stocks.  They will never have the expertise that can be found in private retail. State stores will never be able to satisfy the consumer the way the private market can - just look at EVERYTHING else you buy to see that."

The Citizens also want to be able to buy wine in a grocery store to go with their meals as is the norm in over half the states.  "While the goal would be able to buy wine at the same checkout as the food purchase we realize that such freedom may come as a shock to a number of people and fully expect the PLCB to make it as inconvenient as possible in order to uphold their mission statement." said a previous Citizen's press release.

END IT, DON'T MEND IT

The Citizens represent most of the 12 million people in the Commonwealth who work in the southeast, northeast and central, western and all parts of  Pennsylvania in supermarkets, drug stores, food processing plants, government services, manufacturing facilities, nursing homes, professional offices, and all businesses, except Pennsylvania's "Fine" Wine and "Good" Spirits Stores.

65 years of research isn't enough

I've been fighting this for a while now but there is only one conclusion I can come up with:

Some of our legislators are idiots.

There, I said it.

Reading the bills floating around that pertain to Liquor control one has to wonder what and why they are thinking some of these things. Who might they be pandering too? Some are pretty obvious and others not so much. I'll give you a few...strangely specific examples.

HB 619 - A bipartisan bill to change the requirements on who can hold a wine auction for a charity or non-profit. One of the limits is that you have to be: "(6) any nationally recognized community-based voluntary health organization committed to fighting cancer which has been in existence for at least ninety years"

Well, guess what...that leaves only the American Cancer Society.  Groups like the  Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which has only been around since 1950, don't qualify to have a wine auction to help them raise funds.

Sticking with HB 619 you have: "(7) any nationally recognized emergency response organization that offers humanitarian care to victims of war or natural disaster and has been in existence for at least one hundred twenty-five years"

Find another organization besides the Red Cross that fits those limits. Now if you live out in the sticks (a county of the third class) and raise guide dogs, for example, you could have opened last week and get an auction permit if HB 619 passes. Don't live in a county of the first or second class - they don't quality at all.

It isn't just that one bill. Here is HB 770, which has limits like this: "a club which has been issued a club liquor license and which, as of December 31, 2002, has been in existence for at least 100 years" This limits it to a handful of clubs like the Philadelphia Club and the Westmoreland Club, the only two I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there are a few more. Nationally chartered clubs like the VFW and American Legion don't have an age requirement.

Then you have HB 55 which wants to expand the Liquor Control Board from the current three incompetents to six incompetents, with an additional three members from the industry for a total of nine -- with full pay and benefits of course. Here's a better idea: just require that one of the current three come from the industry. You're welcome.

HB 121 means well...if you happen to be in favor of skirting the minimum wage and child labor laws - to wit: "Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary, a hotel, restaurant or club licensee may permit a minor of any age to perform music so long as the minor is not compensated and the minor is under the supervision of a parent or guardian."  The parent or guardian part also goes against the current liquor code which states a supervisor "shall mean a person twenty-five years of age or older who is directly responsible for the care and conduct of a minor or minors while on the licensed premises and who keeps the minor or minors within his or her sight or hearing." Are there so many 8 year olds who are being prevented from crooning at the local saloon that we need a law passed about it and why shouldn't they be paid if they do?

HB 412 Wants to add "neighborhood improvement district management associations" as eligible entities - without any age restrictions. So start one today, get you a liquor license!

HB 483 Wants to redefine what Cider is and, to me, in a seemingly odd way by limiting the amount of flavor and carbonation. But it does remove the limit it can only be made from apples and it raises the alcohol content from 5.5 to 14%. My question is why not make it the same as beer which has no proof limit? Better yet, ask the people who know.

HB 488 Will raise penalties for licensees that sell to minors. Which is fine, great, but why doesn't it apply to the State Stores? Because they are never checked by any outside agency or police force for sales to minors, and they aren't "licensed."

Not to be outdone, the Senate also has some silliness going on with liquor control. Everything from "Modernization" SB 15 which readers know I've dissected already, to more "Eligible Entities" with age restrictions (SB 323)

SB 611 Will let the state stores sell lottery tickets, "except that no bond, insurance or indemnification may be required by the board" We all know that nothing (cough cough kiosk) ever goes wrong when the board does things.

This is about 20% of all the liquor-related bills introduced so far. Now you know why the liquor system in Pennsylvania is so screwed up. Wipe it clean and start again. Being normal isn't bad, but living in PA as a liquor consumer is.

END IT, DON'T MEND IT.

Revealed: How the PLCB is going to make that extra $185 million...

Well...they aren't. Nobody really believes that the "Consortium of Control States" is going to work; states just won't work together on booze sales. That puts a big hole in the total right off the bat.  Using the 6.92% profit margin for the PLCB that has been bandied about by some legislators -- which is optimistic, at best --  the state would have to sell over $1.3 Billion in additional product — an increase of over 50% — in the next two years to hit the revenue goals in "modernization." In other words, they want to take more money from you in increased sales, fees, and higher prices.(We break it down for you here.) Not exactly how most people think of "control."

The only way the PLCB "makes" more money is by taking it from YOU

Tell your legislators that is it time they did something FOR the people, and not TO the people. Free us from 80 years of incompetence, mismanagement, graft, idiocy, nepotism, and political payback by making Pennsylvania normal again. Let the state regulate, not retail. Or as some genius on the PennLive site recently commented: 

"End it, don't mend it."