The post itself was innocent enough. Councilmember Hans Riemer asked his Facebook followers Tuesday for a hashtag for liquor reform in Montgomery County.
He asked about it following a council briefing Tuesday on two outdated liquor laws.
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And then the responses flowed in. There were those who threw out their hashtag ideas; #letourliquorgo, #liquorliberation, #freethebottles and #uncorkmoco were a few.
Others simply responded by saying they leave the county to buy alcohol.
“I’ve never understood MoCo liquor laws,” wrote Christine Scott in the Facebook thread. “Too new here (8 years) to know history, so I have no solutions. Instead, I go to Virginia to get my hootch.”
“For the record, I buy all my wine and spirits across the border in DC,” wrote Scott Comer. “I save a bunch of money and can always speak to an employee who actually knows a thing or two about the products.”
One of Riemer’s colleagues, Council Member Cherri Branson also entered the discussion. She wrote “The reform of our liquor laws is important but for spurring nightlife in the county. I think we can find a middle ground that doesn’t jeopardize the revenue that supports so many valuable programs but allows common sense reforms.”
The Department of Liquor Control (DLC), by controlling the distribution and sale of liquor, beer and wine in the county, nets the county about $30 million each year. How to replace that revenue is a frequent topic when liquor reform policies are discussed.
To Branson’s comment, Riemer responded, “Though the money we make selling liquor is earned by inconveniencing our residents and business owners. It’s a quality of life tax. A convenience tax.”
Riemer also outlined his thoughts on the why he’s pursuing reform, “I have seen the culture moving ahead of us and I don’t want this county to be left behind. 10-15 years ago this mattered less but the market has changed and people have changed and it matters now. We need to be able to offer the best restaurants and amenities and I am convinced that our laws requiring establishments to buy only from the county are a real hindrance to their success and thus our prosperity and vitality.”
“The biggest problem though is that the county requires restaurants to buy all beer, wine and liquor from the DLC. There are very few examples of this policy anywhere in America and it needs to be ended,” wrote Riemer.
Restaurants and privately-owned beer and wine stores have previously cited variety and cost issues as problems with the current DLC system, according to a Bethesda Magazine article that examined DLC’s operations.
In response to a question about how the local system is different from other jurisdictions that control the alcohol supply, Riemer wrote, “For a local or state government to control retail sales to customers to some extent is more common, not that that justifies it. But the real difference is requiring restaurants to buy from the county and not allowing them to [buy] from private distributors. It’s not common because it doesn’t serve any purpose—controls can be imposed on restaurants through licenses but requiring them to buy from the county does not achieve any different level of ‘control’ from a public policy standpoint. The business of serving restaurants through liquor sales is not something we do well and it puts a needless burden on our restaurants. It’s also not at all a ‘public service’ and I totally reject the idea that getting out of this business or at least allowing private distributors to sell to our restaurants is privatization. Privatization is when you take a public service and hire private companies to implement it (usually to lower costs). Selling alcohol to restaurants is not a public service.”
The DLC responded on its own Facebook page by pointing out the DLC requested the changes to the two laws that banned wine auctions and one-day liquor licenses in close proximity to places of worship.
“This is a statewide limitation that Montgomery County is changing,” wrote the DLC about the church issue. “To be clear, a place of worship in Montgomery County has never been denied a one day license by the board of license commissioners.”
The DLC also pitched out its own hashtags on its post including #DLCforabettercommunity and #DLCrocks.
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