The Night Before Budget

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the House,
Not a creature was stirring, not even an LCB mouse.
[They are closed, you know]

The bills were all stacked on the desks with great care,
In hopes that a budget soon would be there.

The Governor was snuggled all warm in his bed,
With spending and taxes happy dreams in his head.

With Dems in his pocket and no stop gap,
He'd just settled his brain for a short winter’s nap.

Just a friendly sheep here, yup. 

When out in the state arose such a clatter,
He jumped from his bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window he flew in a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow,
Gave a luster of spotlights on The Framework below.

When what to his wondering eyes should appear:
The Republican Caucus, all filled with cheer.

Their majority strong, "No new taxes!" their cry,
More rapid than eagles their proposals did fly.

They whistled and shouted and called out their names:
"Now Liquor, Now Smoking, Now New Instant Games!

On Driller, On Business, On Fracking and more!
On Pensions, On Teachers, School Spending galore!

To the top of the Capitol, the top of the wall,
Now vote on them! vote on them! vote on them all!"

And up to the housetop the Caucus they flew,
With a balanced budget and some new spending too.

But then in a twinkling we all heard on the air,
The whining and threats of The Wolf from his lair.

"My budget's holistic, you must understand,
Includes taxes and spending there for everyman.

It’s a bundle of taxes I’ll fling on your back,
(With a promise that later you might get some slack)."

His eyes how they twinkled, his dimples so merry
(His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry),

When he spoke of the taxes all lined in a row,
The beard on his chin just quivered, just so.

But he held his spending plan tight to his breast —
Special interests to pay back; ignore all the rest.

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave us to know we had all to dread;

He turned off the mic and went straight to his work;
Headed down to the halls where the lobbyists lurk.

First on his list was the State Liquor Store,
He must keep it open, privatization no more!

He tells us the free market would surely raise prices,
And monopoly's best for this most tasty of vices.

"I won’t give the people what they've wanted for years;
It’s much more important to keep state store cashiers!"

It was a long night, as The Wolf clawed and fought,
And schemed to keep progress remaining at naught.

But I heard him exclaim as he went back to bed,
“Happy Christmas to all. My budget's not dead!”

40 years of…….……nothing.

As you read this I want to remind you that A. Democrats have been in power 21 of the past 40 years and B. Shapp was a Democrat.

This story from 1973 illustrates that after 40 years the Union and PLCB have done almost nothing for the consumer. Let’s take the points one by one.

1.       The union proposed more stores, particularly self-service ones. Self-service stores like we have now were introduced in January of 1969 and 34 years later, or 30 years after this article was written, the last counter store finally closed. There were 750 stores in 1973 - we have 600 now. I would call that a double failure. (For those of you not old enough to remember, Pennsylvania had “Counter Stores” exclusively for the first 35 years after Repeal. You walked up to a front counter, marked a printed list of what you wanted or wrote down the code number, and gave it to the clerk, who then went into the back to get it for you. The last one closed in FY 2003-04.)

2.       Permit credit cards. While the union may have proposed this it was customers, particularly licensees that brought about this change in 1987 - 14 years later and at least 15 if not 20 years after other business of this size did. Certainly a failure at the time.

3.       Provide home delivery for large orders.  I would think that businesses would like delivery too since they place larger orders than most residents but notice how they weren’t mentioned.  A continuation of the PLCB “don’t rock the boat or we’ll screw you” policy still in effect today. In any case there is still no delivery. Another failure.

4.       Adjust markup on items.  You thought this was thought up recently didn’t you? 40 years later still nothing.  I’d call that a failure too.

5.       The union report claims that prices are no higher than in New Jersey.  Sound familiar? After 40 years the citizens still think New Jersey prices are better – mainly because it is true and the over $300 million in border bleed and the building of the outlet stores prove it.*

The fear-mongering hasn’t changed at all. Prices will go up if we raise taxes they say in the last paragraph.  Well DUH.  Don’t raise taxes, increase convenience and sales will go up and revenue will go up, border bleed will go down and everybody, especially the citizens, will be much happier that they don’t have to deal with the state store system. At least the union didn’t come up with “Privatization killed my daddy” in 1973 like they did this year although it was Wendell Young’s father in charge of the union back then.  Some things never change.

(*) For more information on outlet stores read this article

This quote is from the PLCB about the history of the PLCB. "June 3, 2003 - The PLCB opens its first PA Wine & Spirits outlet stores in Gettysburg (now closed), Hermitage and Franklin Mills. The stores, aimed at preventing customers from going out of state to buy alcohol, offer a large selection of products at discounted prices."  

Of course, this begs the question that if PA prices, selection, and service are better than surrounding states as the PLCB and Union claim…….why do we have to prevent people from going out of state?  The parenthetical information is mine.

Do you really want them in charge of "modernization" with a record like this?

Privatization IS modernization. Accept nothing less.

Suggested support letters

I don't like form letters. Don't like getting them, hate sending them. But this is an exception, so...here are two suggested emails to send to your Pennsylvania Representative to support HB 790, the current bill for State Store privatization. I know Democrats are lining up solid on this, so...let's ask them to consider abstaining, or just not being there for the vote. That's an easier decision than actually going against the party, and every abstention helps.
 
Find your representative here, and then send them one of the two letters below: it works better if you modify it a bit, personalize it, but the important thing is to be a name, a voter, in favor of privatization. Remember, it's crucial that you include your full name and address, and they like to see a phone number, too.


If you want to suggest any changes to HB790, suggest that the representative strongly consider lowering the fees on wholesalers. The current bill aims to reap about $500 million from that licensing process, and as an informed consumer and voter, you should know that all of that will be passed on to you as higher prices, and will come right out of your pocket. Tell your representative that there are better ways to find a billion dollars for education than grabbing it from Pennsylvania's wine and spirits drinkers.

TO A REPUBLICAN:

Dear Representative XXXX,

As one of the approximately 60% of Pennsylvanians in favor of the privatization of the PLCB State Stores, and as one of your constituents, I ask you to please consider supporting your party and your Governor by voting yes on HB790.

Pennsylvanians have polled in favor of privatization for over 30 years, and thousands of them cross the border to buy our wine and spirits every week instead of going to the State Stores. They'd much rather be buying in Pennsylvania, and bring those millions in tax revenue home, but the State Stores just aren't filling their needs. They go for better selection, or better prices, or better service, but thousands of them do go, and it's costing Pennsylvania millions. Having all that here will save citizens money, and bring in millions of additional tax revenue.

Please consider how many Pennsylvanians favor privatization. I hope you will vote for HB790, and make a public statement of your support. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME
ADDRESS
PHONE


TO A DEMOCRAT:

Dear Representative XXXX,

I know you are opposed to privatization of the PLCB State Stores, but as one of the approximately 60% of Pennsylvanians in favor, and as one of your constituents, I ask you to please consider changing your mind, or abstaining from the vote on HB790.

Pennsylvanians have polled in favor of privatization for over 30 years, and thousands of them cross the border to buy our wine and spirits every week instead of going to the State Stores. They'd much rather be buying in Pennsylvania, and bring those millions in tax revenue home, but the State Stores just aren't filling their needs. They go for better selection, or better prices, or better service, but thousands of them do go, and it's costing Pennsylvania millions. Having all that here will save citizens money, and bring in millions of additional tax revenue.

Please consider how many Pennsylvanians favor privatization, and consider abstaining or changing your vote. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME
ADDRESS
PHONE

New PLCB Chairman in Favor of Privatization

• Will new PLCB Chairman Skip Brion preside over the agency's demise? 
• Is Mike Turzai's HB11 the road to the promised land of privatization, or too flawed to survive?
• Does the PFM report on privatization change anything?
• Will Governor Corbett step in with his own proposal on privatization?
• Does anyone other than Hereditary Union President For Life Wendell W. Young IV and State Store System employees ever write anything in favor of the PLCB in Pennsylvania newspapers?
• Where's Joe "CEO" Conti disappeared to?

 There's so much going on with the PLCB that it's hard to address it in one post...especially when I'm getting back to things after two months of heavy travel and a ton of work. So I'll give it a shot in a couple of posts instead. First: the latest news.


Joseph "Skip" Brion was confirmed as the newest member of the PLCB on Tuesday, Nov. 1, and immediately became Chairman. Brion is a Chester County Republican, a lawyer (what a shock...), and openly in favor of privatization. Brion will chair his first meeting next week, and has said the Board needs to "open itself up and be more in tune with what’s going on at the Capitol." That would certainly be a refreshing change, given how totally tone-deaf the PLCB has been in recent years.

But is anything really going to change because of this? Not likely. Brion may be pro-privatization, but he's still a politician, and that means that when the chips are down, privatization rhetoric aside, he's looking for more of your money -- sorry, more revenue -- to spend on programs of variable worth. So don't expect the high taxes that are the most unsupportable part of HB11 (yeah; more coming on that, and soon) to change.

In fact, Brion has made noises that he's interested in "modernizing" the PLCB. And that makes my heart sink. Because I can tell you exactly what will happen. They'll get some stuff through the Legislature -- how, I'll be damned if I know, because we can't seem to get a simple thing like killing the damned case law through in 20 years! -- and the We-Know-What-You-Really-Need Committee will continue their latest course of buying every single crackpot product that comes on the market (even though no one in the system has the slightest clue on what they are or how to sell them), and they'll make a big stinking deal out of it (spending millions more of your tax dollars on marketing a police-enforced monopoly)...and we'll be satisfied just enough to let privatization fade. And within five years, they'll be back to the same lackadaisical shit job they were doing two years ago before Tom Corbett came along and made privatization an issue and got them scared.

Is that too harsh? Think I don't know what I'm talking about? Well, friend, just cast your memory back to the Chairmanship of Jonathan Newman. Remember that? Back when "Chairman's Selection" actually meant something other than "No one else wanted this stuff, so they cut us a deal on it, and we bought a whole bunch and stuck it in a hot trailer for a while"? Because things were great for a while, and Newman was energized, and enthused, and then what always, inevitably happens at this agency happened: someone noticed a buttload of money, and started screwing with it. And all of a sudden we had Joe Da CEO popped in there -- because he had so much experience in off-premise retail and running a huge wholesaling operation, right? -- fiddling with the knobs and pulling on the strings. And the wheels fell off. If you don't think that exact same thing would happen after "modernization," I've got a bridge to sell you.

Don't fall for it. Stay staunch. Let's get rid of HB11, take Corbett's report, and forge a good privatization bill. Blow open the number of stores, find state jobs for the union clerks, get beer in there, kill the case law, open the borders, lower the ridiculously high taxes, and then watch jobs get created. Watch the restaurants in Philly bloom, watch our already great beer scene blossom, and watch the state catch up to the 21st century. Don't give up now: keep the pressure on your legislators.

More to come. Shortly.

Where's Joe "CEO" Conti disappeared to?