Costco might come to rue the day it spent millions to privatize liquor sales. It looks like it will have spirited competition from a liquor superstore called Total Wine, which is planning several locations in Washington according to an Associated Press story.

Anyone who’s gone to Arizona to watch Mariners spring practice might be familiar with Total Wine, which has a location a short distance from the Peoria sports complex.

I was in the area in October for a wedding and popped into Total Wine. It’s a pretty amazing place, with lots of advertised specials and a …

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

A year ago, the editorial board of The News Tribune endorsed a measure that would have privatized the sale of liquor in Washington. We all make mistakes.

We endorsed last year’s Initiative 1100 because it was clearly better than a competing privatization scheme, Initiative 1105. By a split decision, we also concluded that selling liquor simply wasn’t a core function of state government.

That was philosophy. We’ve since been swayed by practical reality. The reality is that dramatically expanding access to distilled spirits – which this year’s Initiative 1183 would do – is bound to have social costs that outweigh the benefits of privatization.

We’re also not enamored by the spectacle of a single company, Costco, attempting to purchase an election and buy a state policy that would pump untold millions into its bottom line.

I-1183 is tailored to favor large-volume buyers of wholesale whiskey, rum, etc. The initiative’s value to Costco – one of the kings of volume purchasing – is such that the company has so far invested more than $22 million in the campaign to pass it. This constitutes nearly all of the money behind I-1183.
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This editorial will appear in Sunday’s print edition.

Whatever voters think about Initiative 1125’s attack on highway and bridge tolls, they should know this: The measure might not exist but for the bankroll of a Bellevue developer who hopes to kill a voter-approved transit plan.

Kemper Freeman Jr., the force behind Bellevue Square and much of the rest of downtown Bellevue, has given more than $1 million to the campaign run by professional opportunist Tim Eyman.

A full 86 percent of the contributions to Eyman’s I-1125 coffers came from Freeman’s company, Kemper Holdings. Without that money, Eyman might not have been able to hire the paid signature gatherers who qualified the measure for the November ballot. Read more »

The Associated Press is reporting that supporters of Initiative 1068 – which would legalize the cultivation, sale, possession and use of marijuana – are having trouble getting the necessary 241,000 petition signatures before the July 2 ballot deadline. They were counting on financial help to pay for signature gatherers from the Service Employees International Union, but that hasn’t materialized.

I think the weed backers missed a bet. They should have teamed up with Costco, which is using its own employees as signature gatherers at its stores for an initiative to get the state out of the liquor business. Convince …

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Costco isn’t just supporting Initiative 1100 to get the state out of the liquor store business, reports the Associated Press. It will be actively gathering signatures at tables set up outside its 26 stores in the state. Costco employees who are registered voters will staff the tables, inviting customers to sign initiative petitions.

With the kind of foot traffic the average Costco gets, I suspect the required number of signatures (242,000) will be gathered in about 27 minutes.

If voters approve the initiative, Costco would be able to sell hard liquor along with the wine and beer it …

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