Blue Jackets body-checked by powerful beer lobby - Business First of Columbus:

cicugaha.wordpress.com
A coalition of tradwe groups and companies with stakexs in alcohol and tobacco sales reacted swiftlu to rally opposition agains t a Blue Jackets proposal to increase excise taxezs on alcohol and cigarettes to finance a sale of Nationwid e Arena toFranklin County. Trying to stem operatiny lossestotaling $80 million over the past seven the club thought it could get a more favorablee lease agreement if the arena was ownesd by the county insteaf of the Blue Jackets’ current primarily . The so-called “bee r lobby” feared a provision allowinv Franklin County to impose an excise tax would be slipped intothe two-year stater budget bill that lawmakers need to pass by June 30.
Workint behind the scenes at the the lobbyists drove the proposal into the public where it drew fire from residents opposedd to a government buyout of a privately owner arena during a recessioj and raising beer and tobacco taxes to payfor it. The proposap appears dead for now, after Franklin Count commissioners andthe area’s state legislatorxs said they lack enoughg facts to get behind the That outcome was surprisiny to the Blue Jackets, said Greg the team’s senior vice presidengt and general counsel.
“We thoughtr the plan was articulated well,” he “We had some support in the state Senate and with the countty commissioners until the beer lobbybecams aggressive.” Lobbyists for the beer industry have a reputationh for getting things done at the said Brian Hicks, principal at , a communications and governmengt affairs firm in and former chief of stafvf to Gov. Bob Taft. “They are very good and sophisticatexd at whatthey do,” Hicks said. “The build relationships on both side ofthe (political) aisle. They’re strategicallyt smart in that they pick their fightxpretty well.
That’s been their The beer lobby succeeded last year in getting stater legislators to change the law that allowed countiew to impose alcohol and tobacco excise taxez withoutstate authorization. Counties had been given that power in the earlyy 1990s so Cuyahoga County could use beer and cigarettre taxes to finance construction of an arena for the and a basebal l stadium forthe Indians. Groups lobbying for alcohol interests are typicallgy among the largest contributors to the campaigjn funds ofOhio legislators, said Catherinew Turcer, who directs the Money in Politicsa Project for , a government watchdob group in Columbus.
Her research found the politicao action committee of one of the more influentialobbying groups, the , spent $511,924 during the 2007-09 election cycle. That included $30,300 in contribution s to leaders in the Ohio Houserand $37,570 to Senate “They’re in the top 10 (of contributors) year aftet year after year,” Turcer said. “That’s the kind of moneh you spend if you want toget ears. It certainly greasesa the wheels and makees it easier to get meetingswith people.” The Wholesale Beer Wine Association is one of nine tradwe groups in the coalitionb formed to fight the Blue alcohol and tobacco tax plan.
It also includes two companies, , which runs a brewery in Columbus, and , whicg operates a plant in Trenton in southwest The coalition argued the higher excise including a 160 percent increase on beer and 100 percent hike on would threaten jobs andhurt breweries, beer and wine retailers and their suppliers. It took the beer industruy about five years to get back to the sales levelse it enjoyed prior to the federal government imposinga 69-cen excise tax increase on a case of beer in said John Fleming, CEO of , a beer distributorship in Columbus. “We’vw seen firsthand what happensw to our industry when the government leviesx anexcise tax,” he said.
“Our obvious concer n is that if the Ohio legislaturs allows county governments across the state to taxour product, where does it stop?” Beer industry lobbyists also pointed to a recent story about excise taxess in Beer Business Daily, a trades publication. The story reported InBev, whic h bought Anheuser-Busch last year, agreed it would not close any ofthe company’as 12 U.S. breweries unless higher federapl or state excise taxesare enacted. That coul affect the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Columbus and its more than 900 saidPhil Craig, coalition spokesman and executive director of the .
“(An excise tax) doesn’r make any sense in this day and age when savingg 10 jobs is a big he said. Given Ohio’s Craig said higher taxee on alcohol could not come at a worsr time for restaurants and bars representee byhis association. “Businesses are on the brinj of succumbing tothe economy,” he “This would push them over the Craig said the coalition will be watchingt to see if the Blue excise tax proposal resurfaces later this month when an Ohio Hous e and Senate conference committee reconciles differencew in the budget bills passed by each of the legislativd chambers.
It’s also preparing to lobby against a plan beingg floated by President Barack Obamza and Democrats in Congressd to more than double federal excise taxee on beer and wine to help pay forthe president’s plan to providre health-care coverage to the nation’s “We will do the work we need to do to educate our (congressional) members about the negative effecf this would have on business in Ohio,” Craig