Tennessee Senate Bill 2518 and House Bill 1540, if passed, will allow retailers in Tennessee to sell wine and liquor on Sunday’s as well as on Thanksgiving and Christmas. But who’s really behind this law? Sponsors and co-sponsors of both bills have received campaign financial contributions of over $100,000 from special interests lobbies Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of Tennessee, Wine & Spirit Retailers of Tennessee, and Jack Daniels Distillery.
State legislators sponsoring these bills have received the following campaign finance contributions from wine and liquor lobbies:
Bill Ketron- Senate sponsor: $13,500
Gerald McCormick- House sponsor: $14,000
Jason Powell- House co-sponsor: $22,500
Bob Ramsey- House co-sponsor: $41,000
Glen Casada- House co-sponsor: $8,500
(source link www.followthemoney.org)
Beer, wine, and liquor lobbies in Tennessee, at their core, do not operate in the best interest of Tennesseans, and therefore, I believe state politicians should not receive contributions from such groups. Legislators should not be controlled by special interest groups! Both bills have passed through committees and are headed down the line.
Dale Walker, President of the Tennessee Pastors Network, who has stood firmly against this bill, and in March visited sponsors with concerns, said, “How far will the LIQUOR LOBBY get politicians to go? The bigger the donations, the more the Republicans sell their souls to an industry that kills nearly three times more than GUNS annually…” Wine and liquor lobbies have funneled well over 1.5 million dollars into the republican and democratic party in Tennessee over the last 20 years.
Currently, Tennessee is one of four states (Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas) that prohibit liquor stores from being open on Sunday’s. Seven states (Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, and South Dakota) prohibit retailer from selling liquor on Sunday but grant local governing bodies the authority to permit Sunday liquor sales as an exception to the state ban. Of those states, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, and Nebraska establish reduced Sunday sales hours.
“Sunday” laws, restricting the sale of certain items on Sunday’s, have long been declared reasonable and constitutional. A key Supreme Court case, McGowan v. Maryland in 1961, battled on the constitutionality of Sunday laws and the court declared them constitutional saying that they serve “to provide a uniform day of rest for all citizens”, and concluded that though founded on a religious basis, “Sunday” laws serve the overall secular interest of the State.