Well Worth It indeed

The aptly named Well Worth It blog has delivered a great defense of consumer choice. Unfortunately for them, we don’t have a contest for best blog post. At least not yet.

It is well worth your time to read the author’s dissection of arguments from our opponents, the Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association.

Our favorite line:

“So here’s the question: are the wine and liquor store employees adding value or not? Any government mandate can create jobs. Here’s one that we could try: we should outlaw self-service gas pumps because they take jobs away from gas station attendants. Here’s another: all elevators should require an elevator operator.”

Read Booze, Convenience and Consumer Choice in its entirety

Just Something To Think About

No state has ever reversed course after allowing wine sales in retail food stores. Wouldn’t at least one state have repealed the change if it had such a dramatic impact on retail package stores? We’re just saying…

Distilling the truth — our version

The Food With Wine Coalition is the Kentucky version of our campaign. We have shared information and ideas back and forth the last year. We support them, and they support us.

It turns out that our opponents are apparently sharing the same playbook -– the same nefarious playbook.

Do we invoke the mercy rule?

Daily newspapers serve many purposes. They inform. They entertain. And, they opine on issues important to their readers.

We’ve put together a chart of the top 10 daily newspapers in Tennessee. The first column shows the newspaper name. The second indicates whether that newspaper has published an editorial favoring our side. The last column shows whether it has published an editorial favoring the opposition.

It’s that time again

We are officially entering the second — and most crucial — year of our campaign to allow wine sales in retail food stores. We need your support more than ever.

You can do two things right now that will increase our chances of success dramatically:

1. Contact your elected officials. Go to the General Assembly website and use the “Find My Legislator” form if you don’t know who they are. Everybody has one Senator and one Representative, so you have two phone calls/e-mails at the most. Tell them you want them to “support wine in grocery stores.”
2. Refer your friends. Forward them this email or go to our new refer-a-friend application on our website. We have nearly 4,000 members. Our goal is to increase membership to at least 5,000 during the next month.

You can make a huge difference in our odds of succeeding this year.

If you want to do more, Red White and Food has added a number of new ways you can participate in the campaign.

• Join our Facebook group, participate in Facebook Day, and spark a conversation about wine in retail food stores
• Follow us on Twitter and join the conversation
• Write about Red White and Food on your blog

Our new website is also live. Check it out.

We have much more planned this year. If you haven’t already, make sure to join Red White and Food and show your support.

Thanks to everyone for their support.

Can’t believe we missed this one

The Associated Press used Tennesseans Against Teen Drinking, our opponents, as an example of an “astroturf” PR campaign in an article last October. The PR industry — among other groups — has condemned this practice for years.

Read the AP article.

Just so we’re clear, Red White and Food is sponsored by the Tennessee Grocers & Convenience Store Association. Our goal is to give retail food stores the option of selling wine in places where voters have approved package sales. And, we prefer natural grass to astroturf.

Sour grapes?

A number of media websites have run polls asking Tennesseans whether they want wine sales in retail food stores. To date, those polls have been overwhelmingly in support of wine.

Two recent polls take a dramatically different course. In a Kingsport Times News poll, wine in retail food stores lost 45/55. Likewise, wine in retail food stores is losing a Johnson City Press poll by 20 points.

One of two things is happening.