State LCB chief asks legislators for flexibility
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HARRISBURG -- Staring down the threat of privatization, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's top official implored a panel of legislators Wednesday to give him the ability to "modernize" the agency to become more profitable and customer-friendly.
Joe Conti, the agency's chief executive officer, told members of the Senate Law and Justice Committee that the LCB wants the Legislature to give it more flexibility in pricing and hiring, let it open more stores on Sundays -- as well as keep them open later -- and allow Pennsylvanians to finally have wine shipped directly to their homes.
Those changes and others, Mr. Conti testified during the committee's hearing, would let the LCB get products to customers at better prices and boost the agency's bottom line -- which in turn would increase the money it kicks in annually to state coffers.
"We are in the middle of a real phase of modernization," he said. "These initiatives are the final initiatives we need to get where we'd like to be three to five years from now."
His remarks came the same week that a preliminary report by a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention task force recommended against further privatization of alcohol sales. The task force, whose findings were promptly touted by LCB aides and allies, said evidence showed that privatization led to increased per capita alcohol consumption.
Mr. Conti, himself a former legislator, did not reference the preliminary report in his remarks to the Senate panel. Also left largely unsaid Wednesday was the LCB's hope that its push for changes could help stave off efforts by the Corbett administration and some top Republicans in the Legislature to help plug a $4 billion deficit by selling off the state's 615 liquor stores.
Whether legislators come through for the much-maligned LCB remains a big question mark. Senators on Wednesday seemed receptive to some of the initiatives but stopped short of endorsing anything outright.
First Published April 14, 2011 12:00 am
