During the coronavirus pandemic, this media outlet reported that one of the biggest hypocrites in Washington, DC was a liberal US congressman David Trone of Maryland.
While marking himself on social media as champion of the working class, Trone’s company Total wine and more – the largest private alcoholic beverage retailer in the country – laid off workers and cut their hazard pay, even as business grew thanks to requests to stay at home related to the coronavirus.
“I’m in Washington today to vote on the Heroes Act to help American workers, families and our economy face this unprecedented crisis,” Trone tweeted in May.
However, that same day, Trone’s company was laying off employees – many without compensation – at a time when it was recording record profits.
Can Trone do that? Absolutely … it’s his company.
But we could argue that he can’t do that without looking like a total fraud …
Southern Carolinians are very familiar with Trone and his company. In 2015, we observed that its business model was “built around challenging state alcoholic beverage laws in order to maintain an unfair competitive advantage over smaller retailers”.
We also scolded Palmetto politicians who were squandered with Trone’s campaign contributions while seeking to “wrap up an unfair competitive advantage (for him) … at the expense of small and medium-sized retailers”.
“I sign my checks to buy access,” said Trone The Washington Post few years ago.
In another interview, he spoke specifically about buying access to the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley – although he was opposed to his ostensibly “conservative” political views.
“I disagree with all the things that Nikki Haley stands for, with which I disagree 100 percent,” said Trone. “It is disgusting. It’s crazy. “
But Trone gave Haley money to buy “a place at the table.”
We don’t envy special interests for trying to bribe politicians … but we Does envy politicians who show preferential treatment of these interests at the expense of a truly competitive market.
And the small businesses and employees who depend on that market …
In our previous coverage of Total Wine and More, we described in detail how the company “manipulated the system” – manipulating the price and availability of certain “proprietary” products to give its stores an unfair advantage over competitors, while “artificially inflating consumer prices ”in the process.
Total Wine’s market manipulation is against state law – which requires alcohol wholesalers to treat retailers equally in terms of providing them with the same products to sell to the public. This law is defended by the SC Revenue Department (SCDOR) – which has frequently quarreled with Trone’s company for its usual non-compliance.
This week, reporters Jared Kofsky and Harve Jacobs WCSC TV-5 (CBS – Charleston, SC) filed a new report detailing the latest efforts alleged by Total Wine to circumvent state law.
According to Kofsky and Jacobs, agents from the SC State Law Compliance Division (SLED) launched an investigation into Total Wine on “claims that the company has an unfair advantage”.
Specifically, SLED is investigating allegations that the Total Wine wholesaler – Liquid Culture – is giving the Trone company “full control over certain products that rival companies are not getting a chance to sell”.
According to our sources, this investigation is focused on a wide range of specific product offerings that other retailers claim are being prevented from purchasing wholesale.
Kofsky and Jacobs did a great job detailing Total Wine’s documented years of illegality. They also broke the news that SCDOR cited the company for new violations allegedly occurred in August of this year in locations in Charleston, Columbia, Greenville and Myrtle Beach.
Fortunately, politicians who have seen their pockets filled by Trone over the years are paying attention …
Several retailers we spoke to lamented Total Wine’s “continued disregard for the law” and expressed hope that the latest investigation would raise “liability issues … about why this type of illegal activity continues.”
How should …
Total Wine has violated state law for a long time … raising beverage prices and boosting small businesses off the market. Hopefully, lawmakers will empower SLED and SCDOR to hold this company accountable for their usual refusal to follow the rules.
-FITSNews
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