Booze Brawl
The two wholesalers who control 90 percent of the booze market in Texas have launched a full-court press to grab the market for sales to restaurants and bars.
According to ethics filings released last week, Dallas-based Glazer’s Distributors and San Antonio’s Republic Beverage Co. dumped nearly $1.7 million on lawmakers in the weeks leading up to the Legislature.
What do they want? Since the 1970s, when Texas legalized liquor sales by the drink, restaurants and clubs have had to get their booze from package stores. Package stores, in turn, buy from wholesalers. The wholesalers want to cut out the middle man.
Reporter Robert T. Garrett will report in tomorrow's paper (but you can get a sneak peek today) that the company's contributions are five times greater than in the entire year leading up to the 2005 Legislature.
“It shows that in Texas we have a pay-to-play system,” said Suzy Woodford of Common Cause Texas, which tracks ethics in government. “We have no limits on the amount of money that these individuals, their PACs and their officers can contribute. So it clearly demonstrates to the average Joe that if you don’t have the big bucks … the item you care about is not even going to be considered.”
Go to the jump to see how much lawmakers got.
Liquor wholesalers recently gave nearly $1.7 million to Texas lawmakers in an apparent move to cut in on the business of selling booze directly to restaurants and bars. Top recipients of the campaign contributions include:
-- $100,000: Gov. Rick Perry
-- $100,000: House Speaker Tom Craddick
-- $75,000: Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst
-- $40,000: Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth, chairman of the Sunset Advisory Commission, which recently reviewed whether to extend the life of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
-- $40,000: Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, chairman of the Senate business and commerce committee
-- $40,000: Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, dean of the Senate and member of Sunset Advisory Commission.
-- $20,000: to 23 of 31 senators
-- $10,000: to 26 House members, including 9 committee chairmen
-- $6,000: to 27 House members
-- $4,500: to 9 House members
-- $3,000: to 39 House members
-- $1,500: to 17 House members
SOURCE: Texas Ethics Commission filings. Three other senators and 11 other House members received contributions in different amounts, ranging from $1,000 to $15,000 each.
Comments
This is just more proof of what I've heard said many times:
Texas has the finest Politicians money can buy!!
Posted by: Jerry Caywood | January 24, 2007 10:39 AM
Goldschlager. Nice.
/Proof! Also nice.
Posted by: Brooks | January 24, 2007 11:05 PM
They are really putting all of their eggs in one basket. That's a lot of money to throw away.
Of course they realize that with the marketplace monopoly their trying to create, they stand to make it all back quickly.
Shame on those wholesalers.
Posted by: Angel | March 6, 2007 9:02 PM