More Letters...
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
I have also sent an email to Betty Mercer the person in charge of the Coalition for a Safe and Responsible Michigan regarding their bogus survey conducted about internet wine sales. This organization is a front for the MI wholesalers association and the survey paid for by them. Check out the site below to read the survey and the results, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how skewed it was. Yeah this is getting me fired up and I will keep the emails flowing as long as there is opposition to me and my right as a US citizen to middleman free wine.
http://www.safeandresponsible.org/index.html
Dear Betty,
I am writing you in regards to the pending legislation in our state house and senate regarding direct wine shipping. I have read your survey and appalled that you think those findings justify your cause. First off, the wording of the 1st question demonizes alcohol and sets the tone for the rest of the survey. I understand what you are doing here, by stating "As far as you know" you are putting doubt in the person's mind taking the survey that something wrong might be happening behind their backs. With that established you follow up with do you support/oppose alcohol distribution over the internet. By now the survey has been tainted and at no point do you address the Adult Verification that takes place when a direct shipment is placed. I think you would have had different results if this would have been mentioned. You drum up more support for your cause by throwing in the "Controlling alcohol to minors and college students" question, another scare tactic to make your point. Please explain to me the question "It will hurt Michigan small businesses that will be forced to compete with large international corporations", this has no place in the survey and makes no sense. The Michigan small businesses in question are vineyards wanting to sell direct to the customer, are you implying that a large multinational company will buy the wine, undercut the price and sell it to the consumer? Isn't this what our beloved Wholesalers already do? If so then you need to clarify that, otherwise that premise is false since it will be direct contact between the vineyard and the consumer, thus cutting out the middleman.
I have done my research and can see that this survey was bought and supported by the Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association, right away all findings should be null and void. Your group is just a front for the Wholesalers to get their message out with a family friendly website, all the while screwing small businesses and denying freedom of choice. The issue here is not the safety of our youth, it is keeping the money in the pockets of the Wholesalers. I would like you to give me numbers that prove the other 26 states that allow direct shipping have higher alcohol abuse than states that do not.
Sincerely,
Randy Sutton
Posted by mardenhill 6/21/2005 03:13:00 PM
