Temper Tantrums Taint Liquor Debate

My four-year old niece likes to get her own way. When things going south—she has to take a nap, or worse, Dora the Explorer is over—no matter how much you try to reason and give her the facts, she employs three tactics: distract, lie, yell.

Liquor store union boss Wendell Young IV has a lot in common with my niece.

Governor Corbett and the majority of Pennsylvanians want the government out of the booze business, and the Legislature is discussing plans to do just that. Seeing the threat, Wendell has tried time and again to distract consumers and the media from the real issue—Pennsylvanians want convenience and choice—most recently by claiming “privateers” were hacking an online poll of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. And when the distractions fail, there are plenty of lies about liquor privatization to toss around, but those don’t hold water with consumers either.

And so finally, he has to resort to yelling, which he did on Wednesday, in a fashion that would embarrass even my niece. Business groups, including the PA Chamber, NFIB, and Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association hosted a press conference in the Capitol Rotunda to support ending the government booze monopoly. Wendell and a gang of union members shouted over and bullied the business leaders as they spoke, yelling “That’s a picture of profit before people, folks,” and “Aw, [expletive], there’s not going to be any money.”

You can bet that Wendell Young and his protesters will be at the Capitol in full force on Monday, as the House Liquor Control Committee meets in regards to privatization proposals. And while they may out-shout us, as taxpayers and consumers, we outnumber them.

Take a minute to email or call your legislator to encourage them and voice your support to end the government booze monopoly.