The indispensable man: David Rehr's NBWA has become the industry's first, and best, line of defense

Modern Brewery Age, Sept 8, 2003

David Rehr is part of the wave of young conservatives who have made Washington D.C. their own. With his finger on the zeitgeist and friends on the Hill, there is probably no better person to represent the interests of the beer business in the capitol. With single-minded focus, he has helped transform the NBWA from a reluctant also-ran to one of the most influential trade associations in Washington. Even if you don't agree with him politically, his enthusiasm for legislative combat is infectious. In the interview that follows, we talk with him about battles won and fights still to come.

These days, a lot of your allies are in power in Washington. Has that made things easier for NBWA?

To a certain extent, yes. For example, we already had the votes in the House to kill the death tax. The people in the House, Republicans and Democrats alike, seek out our input. This may be out of respect. It could be because of their connections to wholesalers. Or it could be fear. Whatever the reason, this is not something that occurred ten or fifteen years ago.

There was an idea expressed by some that NBWA was allying itself too closely with the Republican party. At the moment, though, this had created a very favorable strategic alignment ...

Yes. That said, people make the assumption that we are aligned with the Republicans, and that assumption is somewhat false. I happen to have worked for a Republican Congressman, but we look at each member, and we try to get the most pro-beer wholesaler, pro-beer business member of Congress. I don't decide how people vote. They will decide how they vote. If you vote to kill the death tax, which affects brewers and wholesalers, you are more my friend than if you vote to keep it.

When the estate tax legislation hits the Senate, are they going to rejigger it a bit to apply specifically to small business?

We are pressing for full repeal. If we can't get full repeal, we will get the best deal we can to protect as many brewers and wholesalers as possible.

Would there be a way to do it that focuses on business, rather than exempting a lot of people of extraordinary wealth ...

Yes, there are people who got all that wealth from trust inheritances, with many generations of wealth being transferred. Many of those people are for the death tax, anyway. My feeling is we should raise their tax rate, whack them, and cut everyone else.

As we head into the new year, what will NBWA priorities be?

We have to continue to ramp up our pro-beer public relations work. Whether that is in the general media, whether that is on-premise accounts, we have to get people to think more positively about beer. This will hopefully lead to greater demand for beer. We want people to say, "If I have to choose, I choose beer." That's number one.

Number two, we need to ensure that the public knows the whole truth about what neo-prohibitionist agenda.

Number three, we will work at the Federal level on our initiatives, but we will also assist those states that need help in fighting state excise taxes and other unfair burdens. As the state deficits close, but not to zero, I would argue that the situation becomes more dangerous for beer. California is so big, you could confiscate the entire wealth of the beer industry, and it wouldn't close that deficit. But if it's down to $400 million, that's when they say to us, "Hey guys, you're picking up the whole thing."

I'm struck by the fact that many of the things you are doing were once done by the defunct United States Brewer's Association. Now, wholesalers have stepped into the breach ...

Yes, that's exactly right. There's that line from Henry V ...

Once more into the breach, dear friends ...

[laughs] Yes, that's it. That's one of my favorite lines. And it's tree. We represent all the distributors that represent all the brands. I think if you had someone sitting at the head of the table who represented a specific brand, people would be somewhat suspicious of his or her motivation. We don't have to worry about that. In the old days, with the United States Brewer's Association, I think they found a way to speak about beer generically. Now, the beer market has become so competitive, the attitude has changed. If you're the small brewer sitting next to the A-B guy, you're thinking, "He's for this industry advertising campaign. What does he know that I don't?" Our people handle all the brands, so this is not an issue for us. We decided we could fill that void, and we're doing it.

Some of your programs benefit the beer industry very broadly. Do you think the big suppliers would co-op some of these programs?

At this point, I think they are more worried about increasing their individual market shares.

You've had some great exposure for your pro-beer campaign. Good coverage in the big papers ...

Yes. We just had another article in National Enquirer. I believe that paper is the pulse of America [laughs].

The thing about our campaign is that we don't have a budget of $100 million to run ads. It's a guerrilla campaign. Our people are good at that kind of thing. Many of them, in their markets, run guerrilla campaigns to increase their market share. In that sense it is a natural fit.