PLCB Ethics Scandal (Again)

Pop quiz! What year is this headline from?

A. 2014
B. 2013
C. 2012
D. 2011
E. All of the above.

If you answered E., you win! (And Pennsylvanians lose.)

Excellent reporting from Kari Andren of the Tribune-Review today revealed that the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) and its employees are under investigation by a federal grand jury for potential “improper relationships with wine and spirits vendors doing business with the agency.”

If you aced the quiz above, this should come as no surprise. Such reports now are about as regular as the changing of the seasons. Andren reports:

A significant pattern of wrongdoing or potential violations that cross state lines could prompt federal officials to look into the case, he [law professor John Burkoff] said. Earlier this year, the Ethics Commission found the former top-ranking LCB officials guilty of taking all-expense paid trips to Florida and California, golf outings across Pennsylvania, high-end merchandise and fancy meals, all on the dime of executives and sales people at national wine and spirits companies.

The rounds of golf, dinners and hospitality gave vendors direct, informal access to influential LCB employees who played a variety of roles in selecting what wines and spirits would line the shelves of more than 600 state-owned liquor stores across Pennsylvania.

When will these ethical scandals stop? When will taxpayers stop paying for the moral and monetary mismanagement of a state-run alcohol system that most Pennsylvanians don’t even want? A government booze monopoly will continue to breed corruption and mismanagement until, once and for all, we get government out of the business of selling alcohol.