McDonnell educates Mitchell on the Liquor Monopoly on MSNBC
By JR Hoeft | Thursday, August 5th, 2010 | PolicyVirginia Governor Bob McDonnell appeared on MSNBC this morning with Andrea Mitchell to discuss the state’s possible privatization of ABC stores.
Tags:
Contribute for Conservatism!
Share this post
About the author
JR Hoeft
Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
We're 75% there! Thank you to everyone who has so far contributed! Just $2000 to go!
Comments
18 Responses to "McDonnell educates Mitchell on the Liquor Monopoly on MSNBC"
J.R., I watched the tape and came to a different conclusion. The Governor is doing to us now exactly what he did in the campaign; he fast talks his way through his appearances, leaving everyone with the impression that he has a well thought plan, when in fact, he does not. In the case of the campaign, his 21 point plan for transportation was a fairy tale, and in this case, he is promoting a conclusion that has not been made yet. Typical PR strategy by McDonnell; talk fast, say all the right words, yet when you look behind the screen, it is just the Wizard of OZ. For a start, why not release the actual proposal for the sale of the ABC stores? Don’t you fiscal conservatives want to see the numbers first? Do you think a one time $500 million for transportation will do anything to reverse the billions of dollars in deferred maintenance, much less actually build any improvements? What’s the fast answer to that?
Mike, just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a plan. Weren’t you whining about the same thing with regard to the budget? Then he came along and closed the Warner-Kaine gap.
McDonnell knows where he’s going with this. But he’s not going to release a plan until he knows it’s ready for public scrutiny.
This is a Win-Win situation for the People. We get the revenue like McDonnell says and we can build roads, If we don’t, we cut government.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bearing Drift, Old Virginia. Old Virginia said: New Blog Post: McDonnell educates Mitchell on the Liquor Monopoly on MSNBC http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bearingdrift/~3/GfJWSLOxJnM/ [...]
It is amazing that so called fiscal conservatives have jumped on this bandwagon before you have read the analysis. If this had been Kaine, he would have been skewered. Point is, when you start with a PR blitz before you release the analysis, the only rational conclusion is that the business case is so weak you have to promote the concept first. If this forum is truly fiscally conservative, you cannot disagree with me. If however, you are simply political hacks masquerading as fiscal conservatives, then you will believe anything.
And PWconservative, build roads? Are you out of your mind. Even the Governor’s figure of $500 M, which is probably inflated, would not be enough to simply improve one major interchange statewide. So please, stop with the implication that this solves our infrastructure funding problem. If is a drip in the pond.
Again, Mike repeated shows the frustration of his failing to elect people who want to raise taxes.
I’m talking about fixing potholes. There is no reason to widen interstates and such. We should look to the private sector for our solutions.
Mike, If the bedget picture had improved under Kaine he would have been praised.. This did not happen.
No tiki, no shirt.
So Mike, be honest… how much money do you say we need to solve our transportation infrastructure and other problems you have been harping about? $5B?… $10B, $50B? And how much and what taxes should be raised to accomplish all of this?
Never mind. I should not be surprised that the posters herein seem willing to give up a revenue stream net of expenses of some $250 M a year, that supports education, health and human services, public safety, and courts and justice, for a one time payment of $500 M that will go the transportation. Now, that seems like an absolutely bad deal to me for a number of reasons. All you who support McDonnell’s PR campaign, where is the business case?
I agree with McDonnell about the state getting out of the liquor business.
However, the devil here is in the details. There’s a way to do this, auction off franchises to sell liquor, where the state controls the number of stares and collects franchise fees, that’s good for the budget and will do most of what McDonnell has promised. And there’s a way to do it that sells out the taxpayers for the interest of the liquor industry. It remains to be seen which way the administration will go. The last I heard, they were leaning toward the auction idea.
Yes Steve, that’s my point. Here the Governor has embarked on a PR campaign to sell this conclusion, yet we have no idea what the conclusion is. In normal circumstances, fiscal conservatives would be outraged. Herein, they act like pussy cats. I want to see the business case, and since that has been subsumed in a PR campaign, I admit I am suspicious of the outcome.
I don’t care what they do with the money, and pledging it to transportation is riculous. But, I am opposed to the state being in the liquor business–not to mention hodling a monopoloy on it. In many other states, there is no such thing as an ABC store. You can buy it in the grocery store, or a private liquor stores which usually specialize in more high-end and rare brands. This makes it a lot more convenient for the public instead of making a special trip to the ABC store. And hours of operation are much more liberal, and in some states no blue laws either. So, I am all for just spinning the whole thing off or better yet just eliminating ABC stores and opening up laws for better, market-oriented, distribution.
Even Libertarians are on board with Gov. McDonnell on this. Even on a national level. I give the governor high marks for the job he has done so far and posted a very positive reaction from Reason.TV on his ABC proposal.
http://tidewaterliberty.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/gov-bob-mcdonnell-on-abc-give-him-credit/
It makes sense and will save Virginia money. Credit where credit is due. Libertarians haven’t exactly been friendly to Bob McDonnell in the past. Seems his performance as governor has changed opinion.
I have to admit that I am philisophocially predisposed to supporting the shift to the private sector, but I am not convinced that we should do this on just moral or anti government reasons.
As one poster said…”I feel the state will make more revenue if ABC stores were privatized. There are too many STATE employees draining our budget.” How do you know? We have not seen the analysis. Delegate Oder was on Cathy Lewis’s show yesterday and did not have a clue about the details.
So why are we getting the PR blitz before the analysis is available? Usually, when this is done, it means the PR is not supported by the analysis. So, before all these promises about how good it will be for us the taxpayers, prove it by releasing the analysis. And if $300-500 M is the best, one time infusion for transportation, why bother? That is the proverbial drop in the bucket and is not a solution to the crisis in funding of transportation.
It’s preposterous that the state runs liquor stores. Its a relic from the 1930′s for God’s sake. The Byrd machine loved it because they could dole out more jobs for the political machine
Other state’s treat their citizens like adults. We should demand similar treatment from Virginia. We run the government not the other way around. Why can’t we buy liquor at a grocery store or have bars? Where do we live? An Islamic Republic? Geez, enough with the fascist state!
If Safeway or Food Lion or Farm Fresh want to sell liquor have at it. If they sell it to a minor hammer the hell out them with huge fines and pull their license. They’ll get the message.
Folks, this works in Florida and many other states. Unless we’re just dumber than them, it will work here too.
Of course it can work. But so we don’t cause another debacle like the “No Car Tax” bumper sticker that almost put us into bankruptcy, let’s study the issue so we know the net financial effect. Afterall, now, this operation provides a “profit” that goes to the general fund for education, public safety, courts and justice, and human services. If this revenue stream is gone, what replaces it? If you don’t want to know the answer to this question, I can assure you our bond holders, the rating agencies, and many of us do want the answer. And the fact that the Governor won’t release the analysis is perplexing at best, disturbing at worst. Fact is, most now believe that without significant tax increases for liquor, the revenue stream is not sufficient to replace the net profit and taxes of the current system. Don’t you want to know the effect?
Leave your response