Last spring Common Cause released a report entitled "Under the Influence." The study showed how, by making almost $900,000 in political contributions, the Wholesale Beer and Wine Association of Ohio used the state's most recent campaign finance "reform" law, quadrupling contribution limits, to buy influence in the Ohio legislature.
That influence won out again, in late September, when the Association lobbyists were able to cut a deal, behind closed doors, to persuade legislators to put a ban on direct shipments to Ohio consumers from large out of state wineries, convincing legislators they just were trying to protect Ohio's wine industry.
No doubt the Ohio legislature thought this a noble cause, never mind the considerable contributions made by the wine lobbyists to secure the wholesalers' customary cut, doubling the price of an out-of-state bottle of wine for the consumer. However, what is most disturbing was the sneaky way it was accomplished. Without hearings or public input or even an announcement, an amendment was slipped into the budget bill at the last minute among dozens of other more minor changes.
No less bothersome is that this amendment appears to be contrary to the intent of a 2005 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that says that states can't treat instate and out-of-state alcohol producers differently. Columbus Dispatch, 9/28/07, "Limits on out-of-state sales, Quietly crafted law favors Ohio wineries."
This aggressive bit of pay to play politics seems more like government by what you can get away with, reminiscent of other special interests bills passed by this Republican dominated general assembly, to raise campaign limits, and to suppress the vote. At least one Republican, Representative Bill Seitz from Cincinnati, candidly stated to Dispatch, "I guess they got what they wanted," Seitz said, "All in all, it was a rather clear attempt to prefer the Ohio wine-producing industry and to protect the incumbent wholesale wine (distributors) against any erosion"(in profits). Sensitive to the federal court's position, according to the Dispatch, Seitz wanted to make some changes, but was told by the leadership that "is the way it's going to be."
I guess the "just say no" philosophy doesn't work for legislators any better than it has worked for our young people, when asked by adults to abstain from temptation. Hypocrisy thy name is money, and that is just one of the many reasons we need to get the big money out of the political system. This example of out of control policy making, under the influence of big moneyed interests, demands a revolutionary change. Public financing of political campaigns is a revolutionary idea, and it is the right idea. It is time to get our political system out from under the influence of money and back in the control of the people.
