Financial Engineering
Delegate Kenneth R. "Ken" Plum
 
After months of frantic work between the Governor's staff and the distilled spirits lobbyists, a plan to privatize Virginia's alcoholic beverage sales has been announced.  Read the plan at www.reform.virginia.gov.
 
Who would have thought that the number one issue facing the Commonwealth was the sale of whiskey through state stores that has been the situation for the past 76 years?  Yet there has been a preoccupation with this subject for nearly a year by the McDonnell administration.  A special session of the legislature to consider the proposal has been pushed back to November, which hardly makes any sense to incur the cost of a special session considering that the General Assembly's regular session starts in January.  Nor does the proposal make any sense as witnessed by the fact that it has changed almost weekly.
 
The pitch to turn over the profits from alcohol sales that now go to fund education and mental health programs to large business interests creates some major concerns.  The one-time $458 million dollar estimate rounded to $500 million to create a "massive" transportation fund would be only enough to build a couple of large intersections, or as The Washington Post editorialized, to maintain the highways for six months.  After that the state would have lost an asset that produces more than $324 million in revenue each year.  Furthermore, to get to the higher estimate of the value of privatizing ABC sales, the number of stores selling liquor would triple!
 
The profits that the state now receive annually would be replaced by a series of what are described in the plan as taxes with a highlighted explanation in the proposal:  "there is no tax increase."  Only in a proposal like this one could the current profits from liquor stores that now go to government be turned over to private interests and be replaced by taxes not be considered a tax increase.
 
A constituent who has over 20 years working on Wall Street described it best when he called the proposal "financial engineering."  He went on to say that the plan is "smoke and mirrors" that he was sure would "if enacted result in a revenue loss for Virginia."
 
I would like your views on this and other issues before the legislature.  I will be having a telephone community meeting on September 16 at 8:00 p.m.  Please stay on the line when I call you that evening as I would like to talk with you more about ABC privatization and other issues and respond to your questions.

 

 

 

 

Ken will be calling constituents on the telephone TOMORROW -  Thursday, September 16 - at 8:00 p.m. to discuss state issues.  You will get a brief recorded message announcing the purpose of the call.  Please stay on the line to participate in the live meeting.  Ken will be taking calls, answering your questions, and receiving your comments about your interests and concerns.  You will also be able to register your opinion on several issues by using your telephone keypad.  To ensure that you are called, please e-mail your phone number to Ken at kenplum@aol.com or leave it on his answering machine at 703.758.9733.

 

 The General Assembly will likely be called into special session this fall to consider some government reorganizations.  Let Delegate Ken Plum know your opinion on these issues by taking his 2010 Special Survey.  Go to www.kenplum.com and click on the link to the survey.  Email kenplum@aol.com or call 703.758.9733 with your name and home address if you would like a paper copy of the survey to be mailed to you.

 

Reston Town Center's  "Reduce.  Re-use.  Recycle.  Reston!"