Thanks to the head's-up from Maryland blogger HoCo Rising. As I have stated before, Maryland has a ban in importing wine from out of state via the Internet or mail-order catalog. If you go to http://winewoot.com, you can order all kinds of great wines from across the country. But you can't send them to Maryland because it is against the law.
You see, our Maryland elected officials think that they are protecting our children by banning the importation of wine. Because if Maryland children could order wine over the Internet, they'd be buying that Verge Dry Creek Valley Syrah for $49.99 + $5 shipping. And we know that children certainly don't have easier ways to purchase alcohol - like older siblings or hanging outside of the 7-11 waiting for some guy to buy you a case of Coors Lite with a twenty.
However, that's only part of the problem. On the other side of that there is the liquor lobby that is funneling campaign contributions into the coffers of our elected officials in order to keep them from voting in favor of removing the ban. And as HoCo Rising pointed out in this post, someone challenged The Sun to produce a campaign donation list from the liquor lobby.
Now we have a list of legislators that have not cosponsored the bill, which can generally interpreted that they are opposed to it, though not necessarily. If any of your elected representatives are on this list and you agree that we should be allowed to import wine into Maryland, then please contact them! We need to end this stupid ban.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
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3 comments:
Sing it brother! I think there will be a great deal of scrutiny brought to those who stand in the way of this legislation. There are no party lines on this issue.
Thanks for the shout-out.
I've testified 5 times now in the General Assembly for this bill. I've taken vacation and made the trip to Annapolis.
I'm a moderate and I thought at one time it was the sponsorship of the bill that sank it. Previously, it was the two most liberal members who were bill sponsors.
But, I have to say, these guys were great on this issues. One year one of addressed the GA Something like- Delegates, I know you don't like most of my bills, but here's one you should love. (I was bustin gut laughing.) It's about Free Enterprise, and Less Govt regulations. I've watched the membership of the mbbwl.org cause grow on FB, what I see is that both parties support this. Look at the other causes members belong to. It probably leans to the right, if FB membership can be a proxy for the population. A majority of both parties support this. A small group kills this in the HOUSE subcommittee. We need 3 REDS, or 3 BLUES to move.
I really don't understand this law - bring me the booze via mail! No more going to the store!
I anticipate that if mail order booze is allowed in Maryland, my alcohol consumption may skyrocket.
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