The Politics of Wine

The Illinois Wine Consumer Coalition has formed in large part because the politics of wine in Illinois have never been aimed at addressing the interests of consumers. Instead, wine politics are almost always aimed at satisfying the needs and desires of special interests.

Those special interests, primarily Illinois’ alcohol distributors, have, collectively, delivered more than $50 million dollars to state politicians since 2000. When the largest and most substantial interests, those of consumers, are ignored in favor of protecting industry players from competition, it’s time for consumers to get involved and call for a stop to this kind of practice while demanding that consumer interests be taken into account.

In a June 2, 2007 article by Reuters, we got a glimpse of how HB 429, the bill that stripped consumers of their long held access to wine sold by out-of-state retailers and reduced consumer access to wine, was worked out:

“HB 429 was the result of nearly two years of collective negotiations between the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association (IGGVA), Beverage Retailers Alliance of Illinois (BRAI), Wine Institute, Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois (ABDI) and the Wine and Spirit Distributors of Illinois (WSDI) to achieve an agreement.”

We note that nowhere in this list is any representation of the consumer.

It is ironic that the nail in the coffin of consumer interests and consumer access to wine was hammered in at the Illinois House of Representatives Consumer Protection Committee when that committee chose not to amend HB 429 to continue to allow consumers to purchase wines from out-of-state retailers, auction houses, wine clubs and Internet retailers. That is not to say that there were not some brave Illinois legislators that took up the cause specifically for consumers. Representative Julie Hamos was the lone voice in the House of Representatives that told the Consumer Protection Committee that it’s about CONSUMERS. She told the committee the following:

“Ladies and gentleman of the Committee, I come to the Consumer Protection Committee representing consumers because I heard about this issue from consumers, my constituents. I didn’t know a thing about it a year ago, but I did take some time to try to understand their wine purchasing habits. And, what I found a year ago, and I have tried to inject myself into conversations for a year, is that consumers today are buying wine from stores, from catalogues, on the internet, lots of ways. Sometimes they buy from wineries or they buy it from what I think of as “everybody else,” who are retailers, in-state or out-of-state stores, sometimes they’re brokers, sometimes they are auction houses, online sellers. They come in different forms, but they are selling wine to our consumers. Our consumers are using the modern tool of commerce, which is the internet, to do this. For the last 15 years since we’ve had a reciprocity agreement they have been able to do this legally from all over the country where we have reciprocity agreements and they have been able to buy their wine on the internet. The internet, of course, became a blooming force of commerce in the last 15 years. Amendment 2 prohibits consumers from continuing to do that if that “everybody else” retailer is out-of-state."

The Illinois Wine Consumer Coalition commends and congratulates Representative Hamos for having the courage to recognize that consumer interests should be considered before the special interests of well-funded alcohol distributors.

When politics and policy are sold to the highest bidder rather than pursued on behalf of the citizens of a state, the result is the kind of breakdown in trust that HB 429 represents and the creation of groups like the Illinois Wine Consumer Coalition, a group that would never have considered forming had Illinois’ representatives remembered they are supposed to be working on behalf of the citizens.