Add Southside Virginia to Virginia religious leaders in opposition to Bob McDonnell’s cockamamie, misguided “plan” (if we can even call it that) to let the liquor industry run wild in Virginia.
Two Southside Republican delegates, James Edmunds of Halifax and Tommy Wright of Lunenburg, said this week they are leaning strongly towards voting against the ABC privatization plan.
“If we were voting [for the state] to go into the liquor business, I’d vote against it,” said Del. Edmunds. “But now that we’re in it, I don’t see where [privatization] would be of any benefit to our rural district.”
Based on his own and his constituents’ concerns about the social consequences of what he believes would be the wider availability of alcohol in communities, Del. Wright also said he would have to vote against McDonnell’s proposal.
“The only way for the plan to work is to increase the number of stores,” Wright said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the number of outlets tripled. And the more availability there is, the more consumption there would be. As a rule there are some costs to society of problems that alcohol does bring.”
Exactly right. The question is, did Bob McDonnell and his advisors think about any of this over the past year or so, when they started touting this “plan?” Did they talk to anyone about it? If so, did they just ignore everyone and everything? Or, is this simply the gang that can’t shoot straight on anything? Lame.
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