Wine sales, Norwich politics, and early voting
How much of an inconvenience is it, really, to have to make an extra stop to pick up some wine?
Convenience is often cited by supermarket industry lobbyists as to why Connecticut should end its prohibition on wine sales in grocery stores. This fight has gone on for years, with package store owners arguing to protect their exclusive rights to wine sales. It is engaged again this legislative session, as lawmakers debate the latest bill that would allow wine sales in grocery stores.
In addition to not making consumers visit a package store to get their bottle of red and bottle of white, proponents of ending the ban say it would help hold down prices via increased competition and give state wine producers new outlets for their product.
At least to an extent, this is all true. And if honoring raw free-market principles is to be the deciding factor, then allowing sales in grocery stores would be a slam dunk. But should capitalistic survival be the deciding factor?
The growth of big-box hardware stores, while not bringing an end to the Main Street variety, dramatically reduced their number. Walmart likewise helped kill off many small discount stores. It was survival of the biggest.
Aside from using zoning laws, government had a limited ability to protect smaller retailers from the rise of the big boxes. But alcohol is regulated, giving the legislature a choice.
University of Connecticut economist Fred V. Carstensen, testifying on a hearing to whether to allow grocery wine sales, said his analysis concluded the change would not harm package stores. I don’t buy it. Package stores would see not only lower wine sales, but lower sales of other products that patrons purchase when shopping for wine.
As for competition, there are more than 1,200 licensed package stores in Connecticut, giving folks plenty of choice where to buy wine and providing incentives for store owners to keep prices reasonable.
It seems inevitable that if supermarkets can sell wine some package stores will be driven out of business. These are small businesses that often sponsor local youth athletic teams and have other close ties to their communities. Is it so awful to give them a little assistance by retaining their exclusive rights to wine sales? I don’t think so.
Norwich council
Republicans have a rare chance to take control of the City Council in Norwich.
The council is split 3-3, counting Republican Mayor Peter Nystrom, who sits on the council. The election of Democratic Alderman Derell Wilson to the state legislature — he won the 46th District House seat in November — created a vacancy.
The city will hold a special election May 24. Republican William Nash, a former council alderman, will face Democrat Shiela Hayes.
Nash could benefit from the recent dispute over fire protection in the city. Before Wilson left the council, the Democratic majority pushed through, on a 4-3 vote, an ordinance mandating that the paid Norwich
Fire Department, which protects the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, also automatically respond to structure fires in sections protected by the community’s five volunteer departments.
The move angered volunteer firefighters who saw it as a power play, forcing them to comply with a policy they had already agreed to utilize voluntarily on a trial basis. When volunteer department supporters petitioned the ordinance to a vote, the ordinance was repealed in decisive fashion, 2,347-676.
Nash would do well to remind voters where Republicans stood during that controversy — on the side of the volunteer firefighters. If Nash can get enough of them, and other likeminded voters, back to the polls May 24, it could well mean his return to the council and 4-3 Republican control.
Early voting
In my column two weeks ago, I suggested the legislature might be better off targeting the 2024 election to implement early in-person voting, rather than rushing to get all the rules in place, and everyone trained and ready, for early voting in the 2023 municipal elections.
After the column ran a few readers — including former Secretary of the State Denise Merrill — contacted me suggesting that if the legislature passes an early voting law this session it could be tried out in a small sampling of towns and cities in 2023, providing lessons to be learned when it is rolled out statewide in the 2024 presidential election. The legislature could provide incentives for communities to participate voluntarily.
It is a good idea.