It looks as if the bipartisan effort of Delegate Guy Guzzone and Delegate Warren Miller to limit the number of liquor licenses in Howard County is moving forward. According to this story by Larry Carson in The Sun this weekend, “The 11 state legislators heard no discouragement at Tuesday night's annual hearing at school board headquarters for bills that would apply only to Howard County.”
They heard plenty of encouragement from liquor store owners. Corinne Gorzo of Glenwood Liquors, Eric Kaufman of Village Green Spirit Shop, and Bill Boarman all testified in favor of keeping out any new competitors. Boarman even went so far as to predict that this bill “would also help cap the rising number of drunken-driving arrests in the county.”
That’s a stretch.
What these liquor store owners really want is protection from competition and it looks like Guzzone and Miller are going to help them out.
On the other hand, if you think competition is actually good for consumers you could always drop a note to Warren or Guy letting them know that you think this is not good lawmaking. Guy Guzzone’s email address is guy.guzzone@house.state.md.us and Warren Millers is warren.miller@house.state.md.us.
You might also consider letting these liquor store owners know you don’t appreciate their lack of respect for the free market.
The Gift of Human Kindness
16 hours ago
2 comments:
No on objects because new stores will close when the economy gets better. Liquor stores and Churches do better in down times.
And competition? Either we have competition for all, or none. Selectively deciding when the employ it and when to abandon competition is akin to establishing lords and ladies vs. commoners.
Great post, and I would go a step further and say that alcohol sales are hardly a “free market” as it is. The fact that booze can’t be sold in grocery stores is the only thing that keeps liquor stores in business in the first place. Nearly everything about the current operation of the liquor biz is the result of legislation. How much more protection do these people want?
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