The Spokesman Review has a good roundup of who’s funding which ballot measures as we head into the election season home stretch.
A lot of the info in the article has been reported before: The American Beverage Association is funding the campaign to repeal the temporary tax increases on soda pop and bottled water and a permanent sales tax on candy (the ABA wants to nip the “7-11″ tax movement in the bud as cash-strapped legislatures across the country are contemplating similar fixes); and Costco is behind one of the two liquor privatization initiatives , I-1100, which would dismantle the wall between distributors and retailers and eliminate a bulk rate discount for retailers—all things that would benefit Costco.
One thing the article notes that we haven’t reported here is that national beer interests have joined state beer and wine interests in opposing both measures, contributing to a well-funded, union-backed opposition campaign, Protect Our Communities.
Now the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the Beer Institute have joined with state beer and wine wholesalers to defeat both measures to sell liquor in retail stores, much the way beer and wine are sold. Craig Purser of the wholesalers association described the two initiatives as “deregulation disguised as privatization.” He said the state’s liquor laws do need changing, but the Legislature should do it because “these efforts go too far.”
A little more on that: The Beer Institute has contributed $1 million to the anti-privatization campaign (which has collected $4.7 million overall) and the National Beer Wholesalers has contributed $2 million.
One measure the article doesn’t touch on is Tim Eyman’s I-1053—the initiative that would reinstate the two-thirds legislative majority requirement for raising taxes in Olympia. As we’ve reported several times: Oil industry heavies such as BP, Tesoro, and ConocoPhillips are all backing the Eyman initiative because the legislature is looking at raising the hazardous substance tax.
