Amazing what money can buy

S

SFJoe

Joe Dougherty
Flagged by Eric Asimov, the funny coincidence of a state legislator helping wine distributors extract monopoly 'rents' and strangle the NYS wine market, coupled with a whole lotta cash headed into said Assemblyman's coffers from said distributors.

Who'd a thunk it?

Dr. Vino reports on the bill:

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www.drvino.com

And EA links to the cash flow statement:

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influenceexplorer.com

What's particularly odious about this is how little it takes in contributions to make an Assemblyman your tool, and how much money you can then extract from his constituents and the rest of the populace once your puppet has done your bidding.

The payout ratio on the investment is just huge.

Maybe we could get Assemblyfolk to sell themselves more dearly, at least?
 
originally posted by Bryan Garcia:
The size of the contributions go to show how worthless and useless an "assemblyman" is.
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you mean to the constituents? Looks pretty valuable to the wholesalers.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
Wholesalers are constituents too.
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Not necessarily, O pedantic one. If they don't live within the boundaries of the assemblyman's district, they aren't constituents, merely owners of said assemblyman. Shameful stuff, BTW.

Mark Lipton
 
American politics at its not-best. But probably falls within the definition of the exercise of free speech, as recently interpreted by our highest court.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
American politics at its not-best. But probably falls within the definition of the exercise of free speech, as recently interpreted by our highest court.
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Falling within that interpretation, anything short of bags of cash being exchanged on the Senate floor will probably fall short of bribery. It's a great thing that we don't have a corrupt political system, innit?

Cynically yours,
Mark Lipton
 
If you haven't read Master of the Senate (in the Caro Johnson biography series), it's a good plane book, with stories about cash being exchanged among senators. Halliburton loomed large, even back then.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
If you haven't read Master of the Senate (in the Caro Johnson biography series), it's a good plane book, with stories about cash being exchanged among senators. Halliburton loomed large, even back then.
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I love that whole series. I've been a fan of LBJ since the days of his administration, though in my adult life that's been tempered by my discomfort with aspects of his personality. Certainly, though, his ability to get things done was probably second to none, at least of those Presidents from my lifetime.

Mark Lipton
 
Dear Assemblywoman Millman:

I have just read about the proposed bill A06884. This is a bill that does not protect me, your constituent, in any meaningful way. There are no counterfeit wines on the market for normal people who pay normal prices.

This bill is, instead, a way to shut-down competition, reduce the diversity of goods in the NY market, and funnel money into the hands of greedy distributors.

An ungenerous view of this bill is to suggest that the sponsor is offering it as payback for the rather large contributions he has received from the PACs for the beer and liquor wholesaler industry. While well-documented, it is beside the point: The bill is bad for NYers.

Please vote against this bill, should it come up. I will be paying attention.

Thank you.

Jeff Grossman
Brooklyn
 
Actually the point is, do "grey market" wines enter the market and pay no state excise taxes? Always or just sometimes? What really matters on this is the true reality regarding that. Also, up till now, why hadn't this already happened? Simple oversight or consistent lobbying efforts by "grey" business interests?

Since everything in America is more reduced down to pure money flow more than ever, (if such a thing were possible) if grey wines had been eluding excise taxes for any reason then this bill has a scary possibility of moving forward. Only two things are going to matter most, which side contributes more to state politicians and whether it can be shown that the state is not getting money it should be getting.

You are unlikely to win favorable consideration by raising quid quo pro questions. Since that is generally how things go for all of them, pointing to one about another is not going to win friends, especially if grey wines can be shown to be not paying the excise taxes they're supposed to. Politicians able to score points by finding untapped or escaping revenue these days are going to be hard to stop.
 
originally posted by MLipton:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
If you haven't read Master of the Senate (in the Caro Johnson biography series), it's a good plane book, with stories about cash being exchanged among senators. Halliburton loomed large, even back then.
Click to expand...

I love that whole series. I've been a fan of LBJ since the days of his administration, though in my adult life that's been tempered by my discomfort with aspects of his personality. Certainly, though, his ability to get things done was probably second to none, at least of those Presidents from my lifetime.

Mark Lipton
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A complicated personality, to be sure. Any word on when the final volume's going to be done? Should be quite a book.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:

A complicated personality, to be sure. Any word on when the final volume's going to be done? Should be quite a book.
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Word was that it would be out in '12. According to this article he's hard at work on it.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Dear Assemblywoman Millman:

I have just read about the proposed bill A06884. This is a bill that does not protect me, your constituent, in any meaningful way. There are no counterfeit wines on the market for normal people who pay normal prices.

This bill is, instead, a way to shut-down competition, reduce the diversity of goods in the NY market, and funnel money into the hands of greedy distributors.

An ungenerous view of this bill is to suggest that the sponsor is offering it as payback for the rather large contributions he has received from the PACs for the beer and liquor wholesaler industry. While well-documented, it is beside the point: The bill is bad for NYers.

Please vote against this bill, should it come up. I will be paying attention.

Thank you.

Jeff Grossman
Brooklyn
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I sent my assembly woman a note as well, Jeff. Thanks for the prompt.
 
Dear Mr. Grossman,

I am writing in response to your email concerning A. 6884 (Schimminger).

Currently in New York State the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law ensures that alcoholic beverages in this state pass through wholesalers that are authorized to sell the product. This legislation creates a third tier now requiring manufactures to register their brands prior to shipment to licensed wholesalers. The safe guards New York State has in place are sufficient without additional statutes.

The primary sponsor of this legislation is Assemblywomen Robin Schimminger (schimmingerr@assembly.state.ny.us) I have included her email address for you to address your concerns in regard to this bill.

Be assured that if this bill comes to the Assembly floor I will give it my full attention. Please do not hesitate to contact me again on matters of concern.

Sincerely,
Joan L. Millman
Member of Assembly

P.S. For more information about legislative activities and community issues, I invite you to visit my web site at www.assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=52

JLM/jvs
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Dear Mr. Grossman,

I am writing in response to your email concerning A. 6884 (Schimminger).

Currently in New York State the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law ensures that alcoholic beverages in this state pass through wholesalers that are authorized to sell the product. This legislation creates a third tier now requiring manufactures to register their brands prior to shipment to licensed wholesalers. The safe guards New York State has in place are sufficient without additional statutes.

The primary sponsor of this legislation is Assemblywomen Robin Schimminger (schimmingerr@assembly.state.ny.us) I have included her email address for you to address your concerns in regard to this bill.

Be assured that if this bill comes to the Assembly floor I will give it my full attention. Please do not hesitate to contact me again on matters of concern.

Sincerely,
Joan L. Millman
Member of Assembly

P.S. For more information about legislative activities and community issues, I invite you to visit my web site at www.assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=52

JLM/jvs
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TJ would have been so proud.
 
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