The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of Tennessee PAC (WSWT) has a reputation for free and frequent spending. 2008 appears to be no different.

WSWT has contributed nearly $92,000 in the 2008, according to reports filed with the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance. The breakdown is:

• $62,200 to House incumbents
• $15,5000 to Senate incumbents
• $5,100 to challengers for House and Senate seats
• $9,000 to other PACs

This week, we’ll focus on the House.

WSWT gave to 61 of the 99 House members. This includes 16 of the 20 members of the influential State & Local Government Committee, which would be the first to hear any legislation involving wine in retail food stores.

Below are the top 10 recipients of WSWT contributions through three quarters this year. An “x” in the last column indicates membership on the State & Local Government Committee. Rep. Ulysses Jones is the State & Local chair, while Rep. Larry Miller is chair of one of the subcommittees.

Next week, we’ll take a look at Senate contributions.

We’ve been focused on the issue of competition for the last month or so. Maybe we should spend a little time with our opponent’s other primary argument: the safety of teenagers.

On our favorite website, our opponents claim that our bill would “put wine on the shelves of grocery and big box stores across the state – and right in the line of sight of any teenager entering their doors.” In an open letter, the Dover (TN) police chief talked about her fears as a mother of teenage children if retail food stores are allowed to sell wine. (BTW, Dover doesn’t allow package sales, so it won’t be affected by our legislation anyway.)

That is hyperbole. Here are the facts.

The following statistics come from the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), the FBI’s official summary of crime nationwide.

Let’s look at alcohol offenses by people under age 18. The UCR (Table 69) captures three categories of offenses: DUI, liquor laws (e.g. possession, attempt to purchase), and drunkenness.

Are the number of these offenses higher in the 33 states that allow wine sales in retail food stores?

The table below show the average offenses (per 100,000 residents) by people under age 18 for 2005 to 2007. We have further divided the data by whether states allow the sale of wine in retail food stores.

Turns out the answer to our question is no. The average number of offenses is actually higher in states that prohibit wine in retail food stores.

And, it just so happens that 12 of the 15 states with the lowest average offenses allow the sale of wine in retail food stores.

Those are numbers our opponents can’t dance around.

The Tennessee Grocers & Convenience Store Association is serious about helping to prevent teen alcohol consumption. That is why in 2007 we pushed for an important deterrent to underage drinking: the Responsible Vendor Act and mandatory carding. No other state in the nation has laws as strict as Tennessee when it comes to proof of age for alcohol sales.

The General Assembly changed the law this year to mandate carding for anyone who reasonably looks younger than 50 years old. It’s still one of the best laws on the books to discourage teenagers from trying to buy alcohol.

Last year, a Whole Foods representative testified before the New York legislature about the positive economic impact of allowing wine sales in food and drug stores. The testimony was quite interesting, especially the millions in new state and local revenues.

Tennessee ain’t New York. We get that and would not expect the same impact.

At the same time, allowing wine sales in retail food stores in Tennessee will create new licensing fees that don’t exist today, additional tax revenue, and even jobs (more on this in a future post).

Since Prohibition ended, most states, including Tennessee, have followed the three-tier system where producers sell to wholesalers (a.k.a. distributors), wholesalers sell to retailers, and retailers sell to consumers of legal drinking age. Retailers and consumers are not allowed to buy directly from producers — with some exceptions for direct shipment of wine in certain states.

The wine and liquor industry obviously believes the system works and creates a safe and orderly marketplace.

Author Douglas Glen Whitman offers a different view in his book Strange Brew: Alcohol and Government Monopoly. Whitman claims the three-tier system reduces competition, centers too much power in the hands of wholesalers, and leads to higher prices for consumers.

Thanks to Ilissa Gold for our fifth submission: Missouri.

See the gallery so far

Our goal is to collect a picture from every state that allows wine sales in retail food stores. Here’s the remaining list.

1. Alabama
2. Arizona
3. California
4. Connecticut
5. Florida
6. Georgia
7. Hawaii
8. Idaho
9. Illinois
10. Indiana
11. Iowa
12. Louisiana
13. Maine
14. Maryland
15. Michigan
16. Missouri
17. Montana
18. Nebraska
19. Nevada
20. New Hampshire
21. New Jersey
22. New Mexico
23. North Carolina
24. Ohio
25. Oregon
26. South Carolina
27. South Dakota
28. Texas
29. Vermont
30. Virginia
31. Washington
32. West Virginia
33. Wisconsin
34. District of Columbia

Legislation allowing wine sales in retail food store is taking another important step.

Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) has scheduled a legislative subcommittee meeting to discuss wine in retail food stores, direct wine shipment, and other related topics. The meeting will take place Nov. 17 from 1-4 p.m. in Legislative Plaza Room 12.

Sen. Ketron sponsored the legislation in the last General Assembly session.

Obviously, we would love as many Red White & Food members as possible to attend the study meeting. At the same time, we don’t expect the committee to vote on any legislation. The meeting is an opportunity for legislators to hear from both sides and discuss the issues in depth.

The Tennessee General Assembly broadcasts all meetings online. We’ll post the link for the video streaming as soon as it’s available.