AFP-Wisconsin Says “Nyet” to Liquor Tsar Proposal

Feb 13, 2018 by AFP

Plot Was Scrapped Last Year Due to Public Outrage from Grassroots Activists

MADISON, WI – Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin today called on lawmakers to reject a proposal to create a massive new bureaucracy with unchecked powers to regulate distilleries, microbreweries and wineries, taverns, grocers, and others in the Badger State. According to documents obtained by the MacIver Institute News Service and published in an explosive report today, the proposed Office of Alcohol Beverages Enforcement, commonly known as the “Liquor Tsar,” would be appointed to a term longer than that of the Governor, serve without any accountability to a cabinet secretary, and have virtually carte blanche rule-writing authority. AFP-Wisconsin announced it will again mobilize its army of over 130,000 grassroots activists across the state to defeat the Liquor Tsar proposal just as it did last year.

Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin State Director Eric Bott made the following statement:

“We believe that an unanswerable bureaucratic post with powers this vast is ripe for regulatory capture and harmful to the accountability and transparency of our democratic institutions. We encourage the legislature to reject ideas like the Liquor Tsar that serve only to increase already burdensome regulatory restrictions and instead focus their energies on breaking down the government imposed barriers that are hampering Wisconsin’s craft beverage industry. Wisconsin’s craft breweries, wineries and distillers provide livelihoods and enjoyment for thousands of people every day and should be allowed to continue to do so unabated.”

Several craft beverage producers told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last year that they feared the proposed Liquor Tsar could put them out of business.