Lowry’s Liquor Plan Blasted In Senate Hearing Many Testify Against Turning Liquor Sales To Private Business

Don’t expect anytime soon to be buying hard liquor along with your corn flakes, milk and bread.

Gov. Mike Lowry’s proposal to take the state out of the retail liquor business and turn sales over to private enterprise was blasted by most people testifying during a Senate Labor and Commerce Committee hearing Thursday and received only a cool endorsement from grocers and restaurant operators.

Legislative leaders, including committee Chairman Dwight Pelz, D-Seattle, voiced mostly negative comments.

“If it’s not broken, why fix it?” said Pelz of the system that has been in effect since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933.

“My concern is that when children get sent to the store by their parents to buy milk, bread and bubble gum, they’ll have to stumble over hoodlums and bums who are staggering in and out to buy hard liquor,” snapped the Rev. Ellis Casson, pastor of the First African Methodist Church of Seattle.

“This is politics,” said Sen. Mike Heavey, D-Seattle, who left his committee seat to testify against the bill. “Some politician wants to say we have fewer state employees.”

One of Lowry’s selling points in proposing the bill is that it would reduce the state payroll by some 610 employees.

The bill would close all 164 state-run stores over a five-year period. They would be replaced by a like number of outlets run by private business.

Under SB5490, new five-year franchises would be won by competitive bidding and anyone could apply, from the largest grocery chains to mom and pop stores or entrepreneurs who only want to run a stand-alone liquor store.

The bill says the 161 agency stores run for the state in smaller communities would be mostly privatized as well. The stores account for about 15 percent of total sales.

The state would continue to be the sole liquor wholesaler, but stores would set their own markups and could have price wars, resulting in lower cost to consumers.

The state treasury wouldn’t lose any money, because it would earn an estimated $27 million in franchise fees to offset the lost profits, and would have much less overhead. In fact, the governor’s plan projects a $28 million increase.

Lowry would use the savings to hire 78 additional liquor-control officers and to support local programs to deal with alcoholism.

In making a pitch for approval of the bill, Jenny Durkan, special assistant to the governor, told committee members that: “We are at a crossroads in government, evaluating the role of government and when government should get involved. Government must protect and serve the people, but government doesn’t need to sell alcohol.”

Liquor Board Chairman Joe McGavick, who drafted the proposal for Lowry, said the current system presents a true paradox.

“The state controls this dangerous product, but also controls the sales,” he said.

Heavey complained that the bill wasn’t true privatization.

“True privatization would be letting everybody in, mom and pop stores, drug stores, grocery stores, anybody who wanted to sell liquor. What we have here is a wolf at the door that has been so sheared that it can pass off as a Mexican hairless,” he said.

Representatives of the state Restaurant Association and the Washington Food Dealers Association said simply that they would be glad to work with the committee “in perfecting the bill.”