PW BLOGS: PhillyNow | PW Style | Make Major Moves | The Trouble with Spikol
Recent Posts
- Philly promoter attacked amid rash of NYC anti-gay violence
- PhillyNow Primer: May 21, 2013 Primary Elections
- Gun-rights activist among several arrested at the Smoke Down Prohibition event
- PhillyNow Calendar: civic events, May 20-25
- Students march down Broad Street for school funding
- Philly students to walk out, protest at noon today
- Philly marijuana advocates pushing for full legalization
- Sen. Hughes wants a vote on Medicaid—and the public is with him
- The Kermit Gosnell Case: Verdicts
- Bills to eliminate Philadelphia traffic court flying through Legislature
Search
Most Popular
- Are Menacing Posts on Occupy Philly's Facebook Page from a Philly Cop?
- Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Responds to Offensive Date-Rape Ad
- Walter D. Palmer Students March on District Headquarters, Demand $1.7 Million from Ackerman (UPDATE: Video)
- Black Activist Points Out Occupy Philly's Racial Disconnect
- Some Northeast Philly Residents Really Don’t Want a Methadone Clinic in Their Hood
Comments
- Roofing Contractors in NJ on Inside the Bid to Privatize the PA State Lottery
- Steve Edenbo on PhillyNow Primer: May 21, 2013 Primary Elections
- Jim McDonald on PhillyNow Primer: May 21, 2013 Primary Elections
- Countypa on Philly promoter attacked amid rash of NYC anti-gay violence
- Jim on Gun-rights activist among several arrested at the Smoke Down Prohibition event
Tags
abortion
ACLU
Arlen Specter
Bob Brady
Bob Casey
budget
Casey
City Council
city hall
Corbett
Daily Grinder
DROP
Ed Rendell
election
fracking
guns
Harrisburg
Joe Sestak
LGBT
Marcellus Shale
Mayor Michael Nutter
Mayor Nutter
Mitt Romney
Nutter
Obama
Occupy Philly
Occupy Wall Street
PA House
Pat Toomey
Penn State
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia police
PLCB
polls
protests
redistricting
Republicans
Rick Santorum
Romney
Santorum
SEPTA
Taxes
Tom Corbett
voter ID
voting
In response to Alberts “Ooh ooh U just thought of something else” comment at 7:19. Of course liquor will still be profitable! The difference will be the money will go to multinational corporations like, um, Southern Wine and Spirits and the private retailers like Wal-Mart instead of the general fund.
Privatization of public assets is theft. Simple as that.
Southern Wine is headquartered in Miami and is privately held by US owners.
Still no billion dollar evidence..
I always thought that freedom of choice and less government intrusion were principals of the founding fathers, little did I know that they didn’t come about until 225 years later when the tea party was formed. If other drugs are legal they should be regulated, not sold by the state….just like they are now in Pennsylvania. You union guys crack me up.
@ Albert 8:06 I tossed in Sunday to inform the public I know you don’t like an informed public but that’s just to bad. Store close at 9, 10 , or earlier as business dictates. In Kutztown they close at 6 at the request of the Mayor to help combat the student drinking problem. In State college they close during the State Paddies Day drunkfest for the same reason. Even though they would make a huge profit in this system the public good comes first.
I obviously can’t give you exact numbers on the revenue loss. The Governors report from Public Financial Management predicted declining Plcb revenue but exactly the opposite has happened over the last two years. If a report that cost the taxpayers big bucks can be wrong so can I. I will predict a loss though because the private stores will have a higher initial cost of goods. Wholesalers like, um, Southern Wine and Spirits will like that. The taxes remain the same, no savings there. Then the states single 30% mark-up will be replaced by a wholesale and retail profit margin that averages 20% and 25% percent in the industry. The higher prices will result in more border bleed, and while the privateers will still make a profit, state revenues will decline.
When will explain why Captain Crunch and Captain Morgan are really the same thing? Another great quote from the Senate hearings that came from Mr. Bender went some thing like this; If you put 100 people in a room with 100 bottles of booze and came back the next day you would find seven had drank half the bottles…and the rest will be cleaning up the mess. The numbers are backed by national statistics. In a recent Gallup survey well over half the respondents said they drink rarely or not at all. Only 20% drink once a week or more.
As for your fact check (funny concept considering you post with a fake name) Wendell Young, President of UFCW 1776 will give testimony and stand for questioning at the last Senate hearing on June 4. Governor Corbett has been invited to do the same. Since you may be the last person in Pa to trust Tom Corbett what do think the chances are he will stand and defend his scheme? I see him in hiding that day. Would you consider filling in for him if they let you where a mask and muffle your vice so you can’t be identified? That would be sweet!
Founding fathers? Bad reference Albert. The first tax applied to repay France for the war debt was put on the most uselees thing they could think of, Whiskey. The first time George Washington led troops against his own citizens it was to enforce the tax. I don’t believe any one whose thinking is befuddled with a mind altering drug is truly free.
Glad to hear Southern is only operating in the US and only peddling American made products these days.
The better the public is informed the better chances we will get rid of the state stores. I have no problem with that. What the PLCB did with state stores on State Paddies Day is no different then what private bars did too. Civic responsibility starts locally and is not dictated by the state. One could make a good case that if local communities had more authority over the bars and clubs in their area without having to wait and depend on the PLCB, things would be better.
The state single mark up? What about the bottle fee, the round up, the new fees for bailment? All those little hidden fees I don’t see you informing the public on.
Yes the testimony without any verification by Mr. Bender was ahh, shall I say, unique. He didn’t provide a single fact, study, work product or any numbers at all to back up his claim in his written testimony and so far has failed to make any of them public.
Good that Wendell will talk, maybe somebody will ask him some questions, it is his job after all. If the Governor shows great, if not it isn’t “his” plan anymore anyway since it was amended. Trusting the Governor has nothing to do with privatization. The idea and attempt has been made a few times well before Mr. Corbett going back 40 years. This time something is going to happen and hopefully it will be the state completely getting out of retail and wholesale and solely into regulation and licensing where it belongs.
Privatization IS Modernization after all.
The most useless thing? Revisionist history John? Whiskey was a major commodity, almost anybody who could distilled as a way to not only make money but to keep grain from going bad. George Washington himself was the largest distiller in the Americas for a time. However, you didn’t see the state or federal government selling it but they did regulate and tax it and the citizens had freedom of choice on what and where to buy.
Of course, I wasn’t the one pushing the drug for 30+ years you were so whom is fooling whom here?
You’re sounding desperate. You don’t know why booze and bread are different products and still believe everyone wakes up in the morning thinking about where they are going to get their alcohol. Really wish you’d don a Burka and testify for the Guv. It’s your job. He is still pushing for passage of this bill. Frankly I believe if he showed it be the end. Help your buddy get some campaign bucks!
Here is a link that shows how private stores encourage college students to drink.
http://www.universityliquor.com/
Privatization Enables Inebriation.
Is this where I should post the Mother’s day vodka ad or the date rape ad or the TableLeaf ad or maybe the PLCB budget that shows they spend more on advertising then education. So many choices.
John, stick to the point. HOW will there possibly be a loss of a billion dollars?
You and your union buddies love to bring up Washington State, where privatization was put in by referendum last year. You often note that prices went up (without mentioning the 27% increase in “fees” that came in at the same time) and that cross-border sales in Oregon and Idaho are up…but even there, sales IN Washington are up, as are tax revenues.
So why would you believe that “The tax loss could easily be a billion over the next dozen years”? Can you provide any kind of numbers that make sense? Keeping mind that no one actually knows what bill will actually come out of McIlhinney’s committee at this point, of course, since this is, as Albert rightly points out, no longer Corbett’s plan.
More double talk. Is Corbett still pushing it? Is it part of his legislative agenda? If he didn’t twist arms in the House would we even be talking about this right now? It’s the Governors plan to privatize, no doubt about it. He probably will send the Lt. Guv or an aide and confirm his vested interest. I guess since health care reform was amended the wing nuts should stop calling it Obamacare. Get real.
From Lou’s comments on Washington state I guess he agrees that “Privatization enables Inebriation” but in his world that would be good for society. Unfortunately health care providers, law enforcement, religious and, other groups working for the betterment of society disagree.
It took me awhile to get to it but as I said, if they PLCB wanted to have longer hours they could since the liquor code allows 7AM to 2AM sales Monday-Saturday. If they wanted longer hours of operation they don’t need legislative permission. They could have “modernized” that decades ago. There is nothing in Title 47 or 40 that prevents it.
Let me make the above more clear. There is nothing in Title 40 or 47 that I found that prevents it. Maybe John can show me otherwise since he knows the code so well.
John, the only reason you want to link “Corbett” and “PLCB privatization” is because Corbett privatizing the lottery was unpopular. Well, sure: I didn’t support that, and I don’t like the idea of privatizing the Turnpike, either.
But guess what: a majority of Pennsylvanians DO favor privatizing the State Stores (oh, right, except in the poll YOUR UNION commissioned, which I’m sure was a shock to everyone), so you’re desperately trying to link it to another privatization. Not the same thing, sorry, and most people don’t agree with you. Majorities of Pennsylvanians across the board support privatization of the State Stores: Democrats, progressives, union households. We’ve wanted it for 30 years. Now we may finally get it, and you’re fighting to keep it from us, and trying to make us believe that it’s for our “safety,” not because it’s about union jobs.
I have no idea where you get the idea I would agree with such a nonsensical statement as “Privatization enables Inebriation.” That’s YOUR idea, and no serious science supports it. Your precious CDC report is based on junk science, and it’s being debunked by real scientists.
Stop putting words in my mouth, and answer the question: how could “The tax loss could easily be a billion over the next dozen years”? Just answer the question. Or admit you don’t know.
Privatization IS Modernization.
There’s a union for LIQUOR STORE workers?!
Weird.
Joe, you know what’s really weird?
There’s another union for liquor store MANAGERS. Now that’s weird.
Even odder is that once you reach a certain level of manager you don’t have to belong to a union and none of the ones that I know at that level do.
I love how conservatives actually have no idea how to create jobs so they enter a war on the jobless. Class fucking acts.
Joe:
Not only that, it ends up costing the state more money because they have to reimburse all the ones whose tests were clean.
Total misinformation by from those that want to line there pockets. No such thing as a union for ” liquor store workers” The UFCW represents over a million working class citizens world wide and tries to build a strong middle class, the foundation of a working society. Sorry if your pissed off about that. Albert continues with his outright lies when he says upper level management “chooses” not to belong to the union. BS. They cant refer to NLRB.
More crap from Albert. Liqour stores in Pa can legally stay open til 2am? Look it up yourself. The kids are getting really desperate. Louie is a different case. A sad one. Check the link to University Liquor posted above and decide where you want your sons and daughters to attend college. Maybe they won’t grow up to say that “drinking and writing about it is what I do best”. I think we all want our kids to do better than that! As a parent I would be embarrassed. As a child I wouldn’t be bringing Dad to class for show and tell!
@ King Louie. How will society benefit from using alcohol from early in the day to bed time? Follow Lew Bryson on twitter if you don’t get my point.
You are saying that you don’t know about the hours, classic response. As I said I didn’t see it but it could be there. However, if one could find it – it should be in ARTICLE III: Pennsylvania Liquor Stores Section 3-301 which doesn’t say anything about hours except Sunday. Prove me wrong, I’ll eat the crow cold, I’m adult enough to admit when I’m wrong.
So tell me why a 1A – 1B manager can’t belong to a union? He is still a liquor store manager just one of a busy store. I didn’t mean Regional managers. Who is the one spinning things now….what union does one HAVE to belong to (or at least pay fair share if they don’t want to join) if they work full time in a PA liquor store? That is the liquor store union. How many people choose NOT to belong and just pay fair share? You work for the union John, should be easy for you to find out.
Still waiting on that billion dollar loss info too.
Privatization IS Modernization.
there’s nothing worse than empty retail space? hear that, bart blatstein?
[...] Real talk from Randy LoBasso: And while it’s true the bill will make Philly the most gay-friendly city in the country, it will still exist within Pennsylvania, the most LGBT-hostile state in the northeast. [...]
pennsylvania is so far behind the other states in the northeast because of people like metcalfe. this guy and his cronies are and always have been on the wrong side of history. just wait until SCOTUS makes its decisions in june. the hatred and bigoted comments from metcalfe show the kind of person he is.
come on pennsylvania it’s time to join the other northeastern, western, and midwest states and be on the right side of history.
pass house bill 300 and evolve already. our state is soooooo out of mainstream, we are becoming the laughing stock of the northeast!
Republicans and Democrats did this to us. We need to vote different.
As a straight member of the GLBT Equality Caucus, I cannot help but note that all of the co-chairs of this caucus are also straight. This seems to be an important precedent.
I would therefore respectfully suggest that if a heterosexual caucus is formed, Rep. Brian Sims and Rep. Mike Fleck be offered the co-chairmanships of it as the only two openly gay members of the legislature.
I would further suggest that the heterosexual caucus join the GLBT Equality Caucus in lobbying for House and Senate Bills 300. These bills would protect straight people from discrimination by gay employers and supervisors no less than they do the reverse.
It would help if this article was a bit more articulate so that people could actually read it.
I am very enjoyed for this blog. Its an informative topic. It help me very much to solve some problems. Its opportunity are so fantastic and working style so speedy.
By setting restrictions on legitimate abortion clinics, were underprivileged women forced to seek help from Gosnell?Why is PP and for that matter political legislation refusing to admit the real problem: that a desperate woman will resort to whatever she has to if she is adamant about getting an abortion, never mind whether her actions agree with our sense of righteous moral codes…
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2013/05/kermit-gosnell-and-the-system-that-allowed-him-to-kill/
Oh my goodness! a tremendous article dude. Thanks However I’m experiencing concern with ur rss . Don抰 know why Unable to subscribe to it. Is there anyone getting identical rss problem? Anybody who knows kindly respond. Thnkx
Robert Tuerk, a lawyer running for Traffic Court this year, had his license suspended by the disciplinary board of the state Supreme Court in 1994 because he failed to disclose a prior arrest on his bar application. He had tried to solicit an undercover police officer for sex. He was reinstated in 2001.
In addition, as of May 15, 2013, a full 5 days after the deadline, his campaign has failed to file its campaign finance reports, as required by law. If he is unable to follow simple campaign finance law, how can he be expected to enforce other laws as a judge?
That should tell you everything you need to know about why this court should be disbanded.
Source: http://axisphilly.org/article/state-laws-for-financial-disclosure-virtually-worthless/.
I’ve been surfing online more than 2 hours today, and this is the best article I’ve come across. I’m a content fiend so I’ve actually seen a lot already.Personally I think, if all web owners and bloggers made as great content as youhave, the net would bemuch more useful than ever before.
This was an excellent article that really got at all the issues surrounding the decriminalization and legalization of this harmless plant. The incarceration problem statewide and indeed, countrywide, is an embarrassment. No other country has incarcerated its citizens in such numbers since the Soviet Union, our supposed Cold War nemesis.
It’s important that Philadelphia Weekly and other media outlets continue to cover cannabis policy, which has many concerned citizens monitoring its progress.
Like with gay marriage, in a few years politicians will be falling over themselves to reverse their current positions and proceed to act like they were always in favor of full legalization.
Why? Because there’s something in full legalization for all the politicians to love:
Liberals get to stop putting young black/latin males in jail, prove they actually do care how much things cost, and- what they’ll love most of all- they’ll get to spend years congratulating themselves for being first on the issue, and therefore being so much more enlightened than everyone else.
Conservatives, on the other hand, get to stop building expensive prisons, lower taxes, and show that they really can get the government out of people’s lives. Also, reading sucks while you’re high, and fewer people reading is probably good for conservatism.
Well said on how having our lives disrupted over it. I someone that could’ve been far ahead on finances with good credit but i was forced to hire lawyers, pay fines, and missing work. Over something so ha rmless and everyday i watch commercials with these drugs with horrific side effects that are legal. flip the channel and watch news about alcohol related acts of crimes, dui’s, its all legal though
When $2.6 Billion a year is not enough. Come one, it’s way past time the School District stopped wasting hundreds of dollars each year. There are 30-odd unions for School District employees, but none for the students – i.e. they are last in line for this taxpayer funded morass. We need our School District to run a whole lot more efficiently, rather than throwing an ever increasing amount of money after the problem, to the tune of $15,000 per student per year currently – among the highest spending per student in the developed world. The problem is not money. The problem is the School District wasting it.
A very professional work done.
I hope everyday I wake up that this happens. For people who get thrown in jail for NO reason.. (assuming they are purchasing and selling just Marijuana). For people who need it for health purposes, for people who want to use it recreational for relaxation, etc. We all deserve to be free enough to be able to take part in what we want to take part in..
We CAN do this PA! Believe it, it CAN and WILL happen. We gotta do our part though. Spread the word, get the true Marijuana facts out there. Also, we gotta get rid of Corbett and Kane, because they’re outdated in their thinking and are holding back this state from it’s next step in evolution.
Magnificent website posts stick with it. I discovered you on Google.
private jets for charter private jet for charter hire a private jet jet charter private private jet for charter hire a private jet
PA won’t legalize pot either way. Huge union-based state, prolly biggest in nation. FOP would block any passage. Same reason why liquor stores are for 48 of the other states.
Just like the sixty when they get bash in the adult books at the peep show area it never get reported to the police Why (dirtandmoredirt com)
Thank you so much for doing this!
This is a great article! Thanks for the witty writing and the useful links.
While Governor Christie’s administration continues to review a private operator’s bid to take over part of the New Jersey lottery, the Pennsylvania Attorney General has rejected a similar plan in that state.