Liquor Wholesaler Domination in Washington, D.C.

Terroirist blogger David White has posted a good commentary on the Specialty Wine Retailers Association report on alcohol wholesaler spending: “Toward Liquor Domination.” He highlights some report findings such as:

• Over the past three election cycles, wholesalers have spent more than $15.4 million dollars on contributions to federal campaigns.
• At the state level, wholesalers have contributed more than $58 million to political campaigns over the past three election cycles.
• At both the state and federal level, the wholesaling industry has spent roughly twice as much on political campaigns as the rest of the alcohol industry, combined.

According to the SWRA, such spending has a big impact:

The success of the American alcohol wholesaler in buying protection from competition has put the other sectors of the alcohol industry under their control, reduced state tax revenues, and severely limited consumer access to new products.

Read more on the Terroirist. A copy of the report is available online, and Tom Wark provides some highlights on Fermentation.