Beer Alliance of Texas

Today's Houston Chronicle has an interesting article about lobbyists, and there are two sayings that always come to mind whenever I think about lobbyists. First, is 'follow the money.' And second is 'two things you never want to see being made are sausage and legislation.'

Well, the more you follow the money, the more you realize you really do want to know how legislation is made. Take, for example, the fact that one of the single largest lobbyists in the last legislative session was the Beer Alliance of Texas.

Now, information on exactly what it is that the Alliance does is sorely lacking. I found a reference or two about distributing education materials on the responsible consumption of beer, and that's undeniably a Good Thing(TM). But--what else are they asking for? We have little way to tell. One thing's for sure, though, with an address on High Life Drive, the chances are that they don't have the small brewer at heart. It's also interesting to hear that their "contact" person is often listed as the very same lobbyist listed in the Chronicle article--telling me that the organization is little more than a lobbyist organization.

It's also interesting to note that so far in preparation for this upcoming legislative session they've already paid about $75,000. $5,000.00 went to recently ousted House Speaker Tom Craddick (OOPS). Also interesting is that folks like Joe Huggins, who is the President of Houston Distributing Company is one of the Alliance's contributors.



Another wonderful example of following the money is when you see who's been lining State Senator Gallegos' pockets. Despite not being up for election this past year he accepted more money than any other Texas legislator in either house, and was beat out only by Governor Perry and a few other state-wide office holders. He is a leading recipient of funds from various PAC's, but one in particular draws my attention where beer is concerned. One of his most recent contributors was a PAC run by Locke Liddell, a law firm with one of the most entrenched Republican lobbies in Texas. One of their largest contributors is Silver Eagle Distributors.

Why does this matter, you ask? Because Gallegos just sponsored a bill to eliminate a tax break for micro brewers.

Yeah, I thought Republicans were all about fostering small businesses too. But not when they compete with their campaign contributors, I guess. Gallegos is a Democrat you say? Why yes he is. And evidently his vote is for sale. He serves on no committees that have a thing to do with alcohol or taxes, and his only connection to beer is that he receives money from Silver Eagle, which also contributed money to Texans For a Republican Majority PAC. That's only incidental to the beer issue, but it does complete the picture that Senator Gallegos, a Democrat, is one of the state's leading whores if he takes money from heavily Republican contributors.