The question over whether to privatize Pennsylvania’s state-owned wine and liquor stores has divided state lawmakers for decades, but at least one legislator has the distinction of fighting for both sides in the never-ending booze battle.
State Sen. Stewart Greenleaf took office in 1978, when he still had a head full of dark hair. In the years that followed, the Montgomery County Republican emerged as a staunch advocate of privatization, sponsoring a bill that would remove the state from retail alcohol sales.
CHANGED HIS MIND: State Sen. Stewart Greenleaf once pushed legislation that would have privatized Pennsylvania’s liquor stores. Over time, he’s changed his mind, he said.
Wendell Young IV, president of the union that represents employees who work in state-run wine and liquor stores, compared Greenleaf to current House Speaker Mike Turzai, the modern-day legislative champion of divesting the state from the liquor business.
“I can tell you that growing up, my earlier days in the union, he was clearly the loudest proponent for privatization,” Young said.
That was a long time ago—the early 1980s, when the original “Star Wars” movies were still hitting movie theaters. These days, Greenleaf’s hair is a bright white, and a new generation of sci-fi fans awaits the release of the latest “Star Wars” trilogy, yet Pennsylvania is still fighting largely the same liquor privatization battle as before.
This time, however, Greenleaf has switched sides. He voted against the privatization bill that reached Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk in June and has made clear he doesn’t want the state to turn over all alcohol sales to the private sector.
Young, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, now describes him as a “good partner” in pushing for modernizing state stores instead. The state senator has floated a proposal that would tackle beer package reform and allow thousands of existing private retailers to sell takeout wine.
But privatization it is not.
Leo Knepper, executive director of the Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania, a group that funds conservative candidates, said Greenleaf’s shifting position illustrates how policymakers change over time.
“After 30 years of being in office, you’re not the same person that you were when you came in the door,” Knepper said.
For his part, Greenleaf didn’t cite any one moment as when his mind changed.
“Well, it was gradual,” he said.
Like many officials who opposed privatization, Greenleaf views the state-owned booze monopoly as a valuable asset that pours money into Pennsylvania’s general fund. That can’t be discounted in tough fiscal times, he said.
“We’re scrambling for every dollar that we can get for our state budget,” Greenleaf said.
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, which runs the state’s wine and liquor stores, contributed almost $526 million to the state Treasury in 2013-2014, but almost 85 percent of those revenues were taxes the state would collect from private retailers, too.
Hindsight has fueled the metamorphosis, Greenleaf said. Pennsylvania lawmakers didn’t know, decades ago, how other states’ privatization efforts would fare, he said. Revenue fell in Iowa and West Virginia when they privatized retail operations, and Washington has seen “skyrocketing” prices following privatization, he said.
Some within the alcohol industry have said invoking Washington is not a good comparison, largely because the state stacked new fees on top of existing alcohol taxes to make up for lost state revenue.
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While a study commissioned by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett suggested that West Virginia might not have maximized revenue streams when auctioning off licenses, a 1999 study from Iowa contended that privatization actually brought in $125 million more in profits over 11 years than if it had kept state stores. A spokesman also indicated profits have increased.
Greenleaf also harbored concerns about revenue in the 1980s, but the context was much different than today.
A Jan. 21, 1982 report from the Willow Grove Guide recounted a talk Greenleaf gave at the Warminster Rotary Club. He was campaigning to turn state stores over to the private sector and recalled seeing a Pennsylvania resident parked at a supermarket liquor store in Maryland, with a trunk presumably stocked with alcohol.
“Figures indicate we’re losing $25-$28 million in revenue to out-of-state purchases,” Greenleaf said then, when Republican Gov. Dick Thornburgh was leading the privatization charge.
Even as an Associated Press survey found too little support for privatization among legislators, Thornburgh—and Greenleaf, the legislative sponsor of the privatization bill—remained optimistic.
“It’s a classic clash of a small special interest group against the overwhelming public opinion,” Greenleaf said, according to a 1982 AP report.
In an interview with the Pennsylvania Independent, Bill Scranton III, the lieutenant governor under Thornburgh, remembered Stewart as supporting the privatization plan. Scranton couldn’t imagine the administration backing a bill whose prime sponsor was “lukewarm” on it, he said.
“He was very much in line with the idea of privatization,” Scranton said.
At that time, the younger Greenleaf responded to concerns about minors getting alcohol from private retailers by saying it already happens.
These days, Greenleaf said he’s worried about societal impacts such as DUIs, domestic violence and crime. A study from Washington found youths were stealing liquor at a higher rate, and that minors were also making more emergency room visits for alcohol-related problems.
According to Young, Greenleaf seemed to sour on privatization in the 1990s when former Gov. Tom Ridge battled roughly with the union, refusing to approve a contract with it for several years.
Then, under Gov. Ed Rendell, the PLCB placed the first one-stop shop—a separate state store that leased space within a grocery store—in a town that was part of Greenleaf’s district at the time, Young said. Greenleaf was impressed, saying it provided the type of convenience he had long sought, Young recalled.
Whatever the reason, Greenleaf has made a diametric shift in his stance on privatization since the 1980s.
“He was right then,” said Charlie Gerow, a prominent Republican strategist. “Unfortunately, he’s wrong now.”
This article was originally published on PAIndependent.com. It is republished on Saucon Source with permission.
