When Passive-Aggression Collides With Alcoholism

The local media – who have mostly been serving as stenographers for Governor Dayton so far in this shutdown – have finally found the human interest story they needed.

There’s good news and bad news:

The state shutdown means Miller-Coors will have to stop selling beer in Minnesota.

State officials have told the company, it must come up with a plan to remove it’s 39 brands of beer from shelves and in bars in a matter of days.

Lack of Miller and Coors products will be a good thing for the regional beer scene. But this isn’t about taste – this is about Governor Dayton’s passive-aggressive tactics hitting some Minnesotans where they live; in their alcoholic hazes.

The company failed to renew it’s brand license with the state before the shutdown. Each alcohol brand needs to pay a 30 dollar brand license fee. That fee is good for 3 years.

Actually, a TV news story notes that Miller claims to have sent the check for the renewal. Miller Brewing’s brand license renewal fees were apparently not processed before the government shutdown – which is well in line with the Dayton Administration’s passive-aggressive approach to this entire fracas.

Without the license, Miller-Coors cannot sell in the state.

And there’s your human interest angle right there. The TV stations have been trooping into the bars, interviewing a Cantina Band full of sodden souses to grumble “Itsh time for the gummamunt to get itsh jerb done!”, and in one case, a puffy fiftysomething north-woods gretel to shriek “You people need to GROW UP and COMPROMISE!”.

The pieces – clearly aimed at the legislature, rather than the Governor – underscore a key fact of Minnesota political life; so much of it is focused on people who are hammered when they make their voting decisions.

Posted

July 13, 2011

Governor

Mitch Berg

Tags:

Shutdownpocalypse 2011

Comments

22 responses to “When Passive-Aggression Collides With Alcoholism”

Terry

July 13, 2011

The state government is shut down. How can detecting and punishing the failure to renew a “brand license” be considered a core function of government?
Scott Hughes

July 13, 2011

I’m sure the Gov will see to it there’s always a plentiful supply of Jim Beam available, for his consumption anyway.
Scott Hughes

July 13, 2011

Stop the sale of a bazillion dollars of heavily taxed beer because the State hasn’t received its $1170 in brand license fees. Brilliant!!
Chuck

July 13, 2011

According to news reports, Miller did mail it in in time, but it was for TOO MUCH.

Now, I worked in the business world, and also volunteered for non-profits (in a finance role). Here is what we would do:

—Deposit the check (as once you get someone’s money, you don’t send it back). Then cut a check for the overpayment.

What does Big Government do? Send the check back (d’oh), so Milller immediatly reissues a check for the proper lower amount. State of Minnesota receives it, but doesn’t process it right away. Now they say MillerCoors (which is HUGE in Minnesota) can’t sell its products here.

And Democrats want these fuckups to run our healthcare.
Ben

July 13, 2011

maybe this is part of the crazy motherfuckers 12 step program. If I can’t drink none of you serfs should either!
Ben

July 13, 2011

you know what’s sad, these booze hounds make more sense than our current occupant as governor, that should say something.
nate

July 13, 2011

Here’s a thought:

Suppose the legislature passed a law requiring a state permit before anybody in the 10-county metro area could exhale (Global Warming Mitigation Permit), then shut-down the government so you couldn’t get one. Are we all legally obligated to hold our breath?

A permit is legally required before selling beer. Miller sent the check, the state failed to issue the permit because they’re shut down. There’s nothing else a priviate citizen can do to get the permit from a shut-down government; therefore, it’s impossible to comply with the law.

So ignore it. The legal defense is “impossiblity.” Same defense that should be raised by every fisherman, pheasant hunter or deer hunter who tried but couldn’t get a license due to the shut-down. Nurses, doctors, hairdressers – all the regulated professions that can’t get licenses issued. Just go do it. Hotels, resorts, restaurants that need state licenses. State electrical permits in rural areas. Can’t get ’em, ignore ’em.

The government shut-down cannot paralyze the state, there must be a way for people to continue to live while the politicians wrangle. Sure, there will be lost revenue and no supervision and possible public harm from non-regulated acupuncturists . . . not the public’s fault, nothing they can do about it, shouldn’t be a penalty for failing to obtain a permit that the government wasn’t capable of issuing.
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bosshoss429

July 13, 2011

I can see the headlines now; “Miller-Coors – 3500 Angry Bar and Liquor Store Owners File Class Action Suit Against Minnesota – Lori Swanson Resigns.”
bubbasan

July 13, 2011

The good news is that MillerCoors will now be able to do what they should have been doing anyway; run it through the donkey once more before carbonating and selling it.

OK, seriously, as Chuck and Nate note, I seriously doubt that MillerCoors failed to get their renewal in on time, hence I have to assume that this is yet another example of how government messes things up. Time to impeach Dayton, as he’s obviously doing everything he can to make this whole ordeal more painful.
Scott Hughes

July 13, 2011

I’m thinking a little different boss:

Day (?) – 3500 Angry Bar Owners, Liquor Store Owners, and thousands upon thousands of their customers hold a raucous vigil outside the Governors Mansion. According to a source inside the administration Mad Mark cowers in a basement closet.
Chuck

July 13, 2011

Do we have lawyers here? Foot? If Miller did send the check in on time and the state did not process it (or they sent it back because it was for too much). Miller/Coors/Molson/Leinenkugels loses millions and millions and millions in sales during hot July and August. Have to withdraw from sponsorships, etc……does the state face lawsuit exposure from Miller?

If the state is incompetent and that causes a major business to lose millions in profits (the margins have to be good on beer), you would think there would be recourse in the courts.
Chuck

July 13, 2011

And yes, thanks to Governor Walker, Wisconsin is open for business.

I like the liquor store in downtown Hudson. Great prices and selection. On the river side of the main road, south end of downtown. The one over the hill, next to the grocery store, is nice also, but slightly higher prices. And not as good of a beer selection.

Prescott has a decent one down by the river, but the BP station right off the bridge is okay for beer also. And you can buy bait there.
Scott Hughes

July 13, 2011

“I like the liquor store in downtown Hudson.”

I was thinking the same thing Chuck. Maybe grab a few fireworks while you’re there and bring them back for use at the vigil outside the Gov Mansion.
Seflores

July 13, 2011

In the last two days we’ve seen the Democrats completely give up the illusion that government exists to “serve the people”.
First, The Won says that w/o lifting the debt ceiling, Nanna & Pappaw are going to get a Social Security ‘check’ marked “NSF” as Social Security is out of money. Hasn’t Social Securitys solvency been a major chanting point of the Left? Yeah, the chanting point went something like “Social Security has plenty of money wingnuts, and don’t you dare talk about privatizing it ’cause Nanna & Pappaw won’t get their check once those Wall Street Rethuglicans (90%+ for Obama) get their mitts on it”.
Second, we find out that the most competent, diligent, committed to public service, self-sacrificing (they could make three times as much in the private sector!!) ‘workers’ aka the bureaucrats late filed the Miller/Coors paperwork depriving Joe Six-Pack and Franny Forty-Oz of their Silver Bullet and More or Less Filling respectively because Joe & Franny can’t possibly imbibe a ‘renegade brand’ beer. Hell, Joe & Franny might decide to ‘Go Rogue’ with some Bud or Grain Belt. (Did stoopid Sarah remember to send in her check to register the “Go Rogue” brand?)
Meanwhile the nightly victim reports will be able to go 24/7 with victims of the beer brand travesty and hey, who doesn’t like getting paid to hang out in a bar (other than Mitch 20 years ago)?
Bill C

July 13, 2011

As for ignoring permits due to unavailability, I’m SURE that, after the shutdown, the Swanson/Hatch state juggernaut would come back and nail all these non-permitted businesses and issue fines for retroactively doing business without a permit.
Chuck

July 13, 2011

Some comments on the Milwaukee Journal website:

So having a Governor(Dayton)with a college education isn’t all it’s cracked up to be is it?

Those Viking cruises on Lake Minnentonka just aren’t gonna be the same

Now Minnesota fans will have to watch their Gophers and Vikings suck while sober. My sympathies.

And this is what people pay taxes for…so an overpaid bureaucrat can sit in an office and stamp “approved” all day, until they take some time off…then its time to close up the stores? This is exactly the type of stupidity that costs taxpayers trillions annually at the national level.
Terry

July 13, 2011

Kombucha will still be available, won’t it? WHAT ABOUT KOMBUCHA?!
justplainangry

July 13, 2011

Next time you go to a doctor, or a dentist, or a chiropractor during this shutdown, check if they are currently licensed to practice in this wonderful state of Minnesota under Gov Moonbeam tyranny. AMA, ADA and ACA (?) boards are all shut down and are not issuing license renewals.

I forecast an invasion of lawyers from far and wide to sue all the unlicensed doc’s for providing medical, dental etc services.
pushy peasant

July 14, 2011

Can’t buy Coors in Minnesota, eh… It’s about time for a Smokey and The Bandit re-boot, don’t you think?
Night Writer

July 14, 2011

East-bound and down, heading for Prescott.
Loren

July 14, 2011

You know, what I don’t understand is why any product in the state prior to the permit expiration would have to be removed. Miller-Coors, AFAIK, doesn’t sell directly to bars and retail stores, but to distributors. While they may not be authorized to sell more to the distributors, the product already in the distributors warehouse was already sold. It is out of Miller-Coors hands. They don’t own it any longer, and should not have any ability to remove it from shelves.
justplainangry

July 14, 2011

Follow the money? Who did Miller-Coors execs support in the last election? Whose pocket are they in?