Alcohol-sales sides report efforts’ cash

Pros in red; cons raise $1.2 million

The ballot committee opposing a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the sale of alcohol statewide reported raising more than $1.2 million in August, while supporters of the measure are still operating in the red.

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Most of the ballot committees working on the two statewide measures on the Nov. 4 ballot reported sluggish fundraising for August, according to reports filed with the Arkansas Ethics Commission over the past week. The alcohol measure opposition group Citizens for Local Rights, however, reported 58 contributions in its first month collecting money.

“It’s an issue that people definitely care about and are interested in,” said Brian Richardson, chairman of Citizens for Local Rights. “People are realizing that this a dangerously worded amendment. This isn’t about liquor sales; it’s about protecting our local communities’ rights to decide their own future.”

Supporters of the amendment pointed Tuesday to the sources of the contributions to the group working against the measure. All but one of the contributions came from a trade association for alcohol retailers, businesses that sell beer or other alcohol, or the owners of such businesses, according to records from the secretary of state’s office and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division.

Also, opponents of the amendment challenged the funding sources of the measure’s supporters, noting that donations to them have all come from out of state.

David Couch, chairman of Let Arkansas Decide, which is championing the alcohol amendment, said the donors to Citizens for Local Rights don’t seem to be interested in local rights.

“It’s nothing but the county line liquor stores trying to protect their own profits,” he said. “Well, the local businesses and citizens in these dry counties want to have local options to, but these people don’t want to let them.”

Couch said the amendment’s opponents are “being hypocritical.”

“They talk out of both sides of their mouth, depending on what county they’re in,” he said. “One of their largest donors that gave them $400,000 also gave the dry folks in Faulkner County a huge chunk of money to keep it off the ballot. They just put up a billboard in Pulaski County telling people to keep local tax dollars here. Well, that was the same message of the folks supporting the local measure for alcohol sales in Faulkner County.

“If this was really about local options and local control, then why don’t they remove the barriers to having a local election?” Couch said.

The Conway County Liquor Association, with an address listed at a post office box in Morrilton, gave Citizens for Local Rights $400,000 in two contributions of $150,000 and $250,000 during August. A group with a slightly different name — the Conway County Legal Beverage Association — but with the same address gave $205,000 to They Win You Lose, the local option ballot committee that opposed trying to place the local alcohol sale initiative on the ballot in Faulkner County.

Meanwhile, Let Arkansas Decide said Tuesday in its monthly report that it had raised $55,000 in August — improving its financial position, but leaving the group still almost $91,000 in debt.

Couch said rule changes during the 2013 legislative session require ballot committees to report all expenses accrued during that reporting period, not bills paid in that period.

A group of opponents that doesn’t include Richardson’s group, Citizens for Local Rights, is challenging Couch’s interpretation of those rule changes on expenses and filed a complaint with the Ethics Commission last week. It asked the commission to force Couch to list all promises of contributions or loans after an Aug. 15 report listed the group more than $114,000 in debt.

Couch said he’s been forthcoming about all of the money he’s raised.

The Let Arkansas Decide report Tuesday listed three donors for the total $55,000 in contributions in August: $25,000 from Iowa-based Kum & Go convenience stores, $25,000 from E-Z Mart convenience stores and $5,000 from an Iowa construction company.

Richardson challenged where Couch’s group is raising money.

“They have not raised a penny from in-state sources, because the people of Arkansas know this is a bad idea,” he said.

“We’ve also begun an outlet for grass-roots donations. We’ve received over 600 individual donations from people who are livid when they find out that this would allow liquor stores to open up next to schools, churches and day cares. We have volunteers taking pledge forms to their churches, their neighbors and their communities as part of our grass-roots effort, which is what’s really going to win this,” Richardson said.

Couch said the amendment is clear that the state would still have the power to regulate the sale of alcohol but could no longer prohibit the sale in any county or municipality. He said the amendment would take effect on July 1, specifically to give the Legislature time to address any additional regulations that lawmakers feel are necessary.

Couch and Richardson said voters can expect to see more advertising and have volunteers approach them about the issue in the seven weeks before the election.

Richardson’s group has already spent more than $800,000 on advertising, according to the September report.

Couch’s group has so far spent most of its money on the signature campaign to get the issue onto the ballot.

Give Arkansas a Raise Now and the Arkansas Interfaith Alliance, the two groups formed to support an initiated act to raise the state’s minimum wage from $6.25 to $8.50 an hour by 2017, reported combined fundraising of less than a dollar in August.

“We are finalizing our plans likely by the end of this week. We’ll begin to raise money for this part of the campaign once that plan is settled,” said Steve Copley, chairman of both minimum-wage ballot committees. “It could be phone banks or mailers, but once we figure that out, we can move forward.”

No opposition group on the minimum-wage act had officially registered with the Ethics Commission as of Tuesday.

Several Democratic campaigns in high-profile races have anticipated that the measure will help turn out voters in their favor. The Democratic Party of Arkansas contributed to the campaign’s efforts to gather signatures for the ballot, but Copley said the group is not counting on any partisan support moving forward.

“All along, we’ve been nonpartisan, but certainly we will take support from anybody who is behind getting this passed to help Arkansas families, whether that’s individuals, small donors, larger donors, anybody that will support the campaign,” Copley said.

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