Keeping the world safe for beer: David Rehr has made the NBWA a political force in Washington - National Beer Wholesalers Association - Interview

Modern Brewery Age, Sept 9, 2002 by David K. Rehr

I think part of it is perception; part of it is grassroots activism; part of it is the size of our political action committee (PAC). In our case, I think there is also the sense that if someone picks a fight with us, we'll take them on. Ten years ago, it seemed like we tried to work behind the scenes. It made us seem less proud of what we do. Today, we have ten years worth of positive medical studies that show that moderate consumption of beer is good for you. It's part of a healthy lifestyle. I think that makes people in this industry prouder of what they do, and they are more aggressive about this. We're not going to take any guff from people. At the end of the day, we might lose a battle or two, but members of Congress know that if they pick a fight with us, there will be the proverbial blood on the floor. That makes them less likely to pick a fight with us.

MADD is a tough opponent, because you can't attack their general proposition.

That's right. We bring the data, and they bring the emotion. Emotion trumps data.

Your heart goes out to them. I'm sure they think I am the devil. I remember when we were fighting .08 a few years ago, and I came around a corner and all the MADD people were standing there. And they all looked at me this loathing and horror. I am Satan to them, But when I look at the data, most of these offenders have high blood alcohol, most were repeat offenders. I think that they should be focusing on that, rather than the inherent dangers of the product. Every product we use has some inherent danger. Cars are dangerous if used improperly, for example. I think we should focus on the people who abuse the product. I think the people at MADD are all caught up in the emotion, and can't see that.

My mother died of lung cancer. She smoked. But I don't get up every day and say, "Damn those tobacco companies." She made that choice. And the case of cigarettes is very different, because there are no studies that show smoking is good for. We should be proactive on teaching people to be responsible and to do the right thing.

What are your feelings about the upcoming elections?

It looks like a mixed bag. If the market continues to decline, pro-business interests in the House and Senate will be in peril. If the economy picks up, we could improve our position in the House by 3-7 seats. We could replace some good people with even better people. I think the House will stay Republican unless the economy tumbles further, and starts an anti-Republican wave. If there is a huge anti-Republican wave, we will be a lot more on the defensive over the next couple of years. From our point of view this would be bad for the beer industry.

I think that control of the Senate will be as close today the day after the election as it is now. Either party could have a one-seat advantage.

NBWA seems to give mostly to Republicans, with a salting of blue dog Democrats.

We look at each Congressional district and decide who is the best person we could get in that district. In the aggregate, we tend to be more Republican than Democrat. The Republicans tend to support small business issues better than the Democrats. But we are bi-partisan, in the sense that if we have a race where it's going to be a Democrat, we will get involved at the primary level, to try to pick the most pro-beer wholesaler Democrat of the lot.