Chris Beam explains how lobbyists and
corporations are getting around ethics laws and throwing parties
for lawmakers here in Denver. I stopped by the Distilled Spirits
Council bash that he discusses in his lede. I got there toward the
end of the night, when they were running low on cigars, and was
told they were all out even as they handed them to people more
important than me right before my eyes. Who can blame them, though?
As long as government is eager to meddle with their business, the
liquor industry would be crazy not to try and buy influence on the
legislative process.
If there were no Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, there
would almost certainly have been no Distilled Spirits Council
party. Wheeler’s First
Law: The way to get rid of corruption in high places is to get
rid of the high places.
