BASTARD BREWPUB LEGISLATION ILL-CONCEIVED

PILLOW-TALK LOBBYING IN SPEAKER'S SUITE UNVEILED
It's a "Family" Affair

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld.com

(c) 2007

By Michael Horne

Forget what they taught you in civics class. In the Wisconsin legislature there is no need to go through such niceties as public hearings, committee votes and bicameral approval of pending legislation.

In fact the so-called “Brewpub Bill” had only one hearing in one house of government before only one committee of only five members – who never cast a single vote for or against it – yet it is expected to be be signed into law tomorrow, by Governor Jim Doyle.

It is a big victory for the beleaguered beer distributors and the absolute end of the world for anybody in this state who would choose to operate a brewery in one location and a brewpub in another.

The result of the stealth legislation will be devastating according to Jim McCabe, who employs 85 at his Milwaukee Ale House brewpub on N. Water St. and who is in the midst of federal approval of his separate brewery (no pub) on S. 2^nd St. The law, scheduled to go into effect one month after its signing, will force him to choose one business or the other, and will generally hinder further development of one of this state’s few growth industries. (Craft brewery volume is up 31 per cent over the last three years.)

So how did this law get on the books? You’ll see it’s a “family” affair.

Meet Eric Jensen, Executive Director and Lobbyist for the Wisconsin Beer Distributors Association, Inc.

The organization’s lobbying effort included support for S.B. 224,

The “Brewpub Tourism Development Act,” a 28-page whopper that would have created for the first time in modern legislative history an entirely new and unnecessary term to designate a business that both brews beer and serves food. Thus would be born the legal designation “Brewpub,” bastard child of “Brewery.” The bill, and its companion measure in the assembly, A.B. 455, were considered dead in July, after the Committee on Transportation, Tourism and Insurance declined to act on it. The Assembly never even scheduled a hearing on the subject. However, it reappeared sometime on the afternoon of Friday, October 19^th, 2007 at the insistence of Speaker Mike Huebsch, (R-94^th) the West Salem Republican who apparently picked up some devilish parliamentary tricks when he studied at the well-known Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Huebsch was able to introduce the bill’s provisions into the budget during the confusion that reigned when Sen. Judy Robson, then the senate leader, essentially abdicated her responsibilities at the height of budget negotiations.[Her colleagues removed her from her leadership post in a coup yesterday.]

S.B. 224 was now the final piece tucked into the 110-day old state budget, and the Governor would not veto it..

So far, this is an ordinary tale of a powerful legislator horse trading with the governor. Now, let’s stir in some blood.

The Assembly e-mail directory lists Jodi Jensen as a member of Huebsch’s staff, mentioned first among his six minions.

Jodi Jensen is the wife of Eric Jensen, the beer distributors’ lobbyist who received $32,670 for his efforts on the bill’s behalf during the first six months of this year.

Furthermore, Jodi Jensen is the sister of Brian Morello, a beer distributor until this year, when he switched over to becoming a brewer with the purchase of City Brewing Co. (nee G. Heileman) in La Crosse.

Brian Morello routinely lavishes thousands of dollars on candidates of all stripes, including Huebsch, who got $750 from him since 2004.

In June, Morello sold Beloit Beverage Company, the local Coors distributor, to W.O.W., the local Miller distributor.

W.O.W. is controlled by Aldo Madrigano, who has been quoted as saying the upcoming merger between Miller and Coors – which he did not anticipate, he says – is a fine thing.

On October 1^st, 2007, Madrigano was named Chairman of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, an industry trade group that considers itself “The Defender of the 21^st Amendment.”

The NBWA is ranked among the top ten most powerful lobbies in Washington, and closely tracks state legislation. Among the 12 top issues facing the industry today are “threats to the three tier system,” and “big box retailers,” according to a panel discussion at the group’s October convention in Las Vegas, of course.

Madrigano will be able to tell his buddies about how the distributors in Wisconsin were able to defend themselves against these threats by taking advantage of the peculiarities of our legislative system and those who control it.

[Update -- 4:10 p.m. --

Sen. Fred Risser (D-26^th) issued a press release saying the compromise he successfully crafted received the endorsement of the Wisconsin Brewers Guild, the association of craft brewers.

However, the lobbying report of the Brewers Guild clearly shows its opposition in the form of a big, red, downward-pointed arrow. That means “no.” It looks like somebody hoodwinked the veteran legislator. You’d think that after 80 years, 5 months and 20 days on this planet Risser would be sharp enough not to let somebody pull one over on him!--Ed.]

[Update -- Friday, October 26th, 2007, 12:25 p.m. -- A link to the Risser press release disappeared shortly after the post above was made. However, a cached version of the release is below. -- Ed.]
071026.risser.doc