GOVERNOR VETOES WINE LEGISLATION -- BUT NOT BREWPUB

Says Wine Not Budget Item --
So Why Not Beer Not?


Special to the Readers of www.milwaukeeworld.com

By Michael Horne

The Dane County elite will celebrate Jim Doyle's veto of wine legislation tonight. You can almost see them pouring magnums of Wollersheim Domaine Reserve '05 in their sparkling crystal stemware to toast the Great Man's action. Meanwhile, the beer-drinking underclass who pounded their bottles on the table trying to get his attention wonder why they weren't heard when the governor got busy with his pen.
The wine folks lucked out in the Governor's budget message and vetoes. In his 46-page message, he strikes down a law sought by wine distributors to create a three-tier system saying, "I object to the inclusion of policy of this nature in a budget bill."
However, a similar distributor-sponsored policy bill also in the budget to establish new restrictions on the rapidly growing craft beer industry remained unscathed. The inconsistency is baffling, and can perhaps only be explained by the Dane County lifer's cultural myopia, conditioned by an existence where champagne fountains are commonplace, yet beer taps are rare.
It was not only the stealth manner by which the wine bill was included in the budget, but its provisions as well that concerned the governor.
"The changes to the distribution system included in these sections ... may have stifling economic effects on the small wineries around the state, forcing them out of business."
The governor's keen insight into the plight of the wineries stands in high contrast to his evident blindness as to the business-stifling provisions in the beer law.
Doyle also pleaded the case of wineries, saying "the language included in the bill, however, does not adequately address the needs of small entrepreneurial wineries."
The Champion of Small Business made no mention of the needs of small entrepreneurial breweries.
However, he did indicate a willingness for the first time to undertake a re-examination of the state's Prohibition-era alcoholic beverage laws:
"Therefore, I am directing the appropriate agency secretaries to begin immediately to work with the Legislature to adopt a new version of this proposal that provides a workable and equitable approach that meets the
intent of the three-tier distribution system while supporting new and small businesses."