Criticism Grows Over Park Helms-ABC Board $9,000. Dinner
Mecklenburg ABC Board Chairman Parks Helms insisted Wednesday that the agency did not mislead the public about its relationship with an international liquor company that treated officials to a $9,000 holiday dinner.
The board paid more than $11 million to Diageo Americas from January to November, according to documents obtained by WCNC, the Observer's news partner.
Agency officials previously released a statement saying it "has no business relation with Diageo other than selling its products in ABC stores in Mecklenburg County."
The disclosure comes as the state Alcohol Law Enforcement Division is investigating the Nov. 18 dinner for 28 people paid for by London-based Diageo, which makes brands such as Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker Scotch. State ABC Commission officials have authority to remove local board members and employees who violate state laws against accepting gifts.
Last week, Helms announced that he and other top staff paid back the cost of the meal at Del Frisco's steakhouse in south Charlotte.
In his first public remarks since the disclosure about payments to Diageo, Helms defended himself and accused political rivals of spreading falsehoods.
Helms said there is no link between the holiday party and payments to the company. The board pays $47 million a year to Diageo and dozens of other vendors for the purchase of their products, he said.
"It's disappointing to me we are going down the road of making innuendo accusations," Helms said.
But Helms' assurances failed to quell criticism from some county commissioners, who appoint members of the local Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
The agency's statement did not explain that it not only sells liquor, but also makes direct payments to Diageo.
Commissioner Karen Bentley said that Helms should resign.
The board's previous statements about its relationship with Diageo "was at minimum, misleading," Bentley said. "At maximum, it was completely false."
County Commission Chair Jennifer Roberts also said the ABC Board's previous statement was "misleading."
Distillers lobby the state ABC commission to keep their products in its central warehouse through which local stores buy their liquor.
ABC stores are run by local boards across the state. Distillers also try to persuade local panels to stock their brands in the stores.
Local boards place orders from the central warehouse and after the alcohol arrives, the board has 30 days to make payments to liquor companies.
Records show the Mecklenburg ABC Board wrote 22 checks to Diageo from January to November. The board is Diageo's biggest customer in North Carolina.
Helms said Mecklenburg officials decide which brands to carry in their 21 stores based on sales.
A 1996 memo from the state ABC Commission prohibits manufacturers or vendors from giving local ABC boards money "or any other thing of value."
The Mecklenburg ABC Board has previously said that "unsolicited meals is an accepted business practice" and excluded from the law barring gifts.
Helms, who attended with his wife, was the only board member at the dinner. He has said he is repaying $1,000. Board CEO Calvin McDougal, who went with his wife, is repaying $4,000. They agreed to cover the tab for ABC employees for whom repayment would be a hardship. Others must pay $330 each.
On Wednesday, Helms said he did not know who was hosting the dinner before he arrived. He said that the ABC Board has dealings with 60 to 70 vendors whose brands are sold in Mecklenburg County stores.
But commissioner Bentley said Helms "should know better."
"If he didn't violate the policy, he violated the spirit of it," Bentley said.
Roberts, the commission chair, said she did not know if the board would take action against Helms. However, she noted, that he has repaid the company for the dinner.
"They have made things right," Roberts said. "The dinner was mistake and it is not going to happen again."
Charlotte-Meck. ABC Board Caught In Another Lie
The distiller that the Mecklenburg County ABC Board got a $9000 dinner from and the board then claimed it had “no business relation with Diageo other than selling its products in ABC stores in Mecklenburg County.” Yeah, not so much.
WCNC reports that the board only routinely writes six-figure checks to Diageo each month. During 2009 the board has had $11m. worth of business relations with Diageo.
Still, this has not pushed the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioners to remove the board and its chair Parks Helms and start over. Instead the Republicans on the board remain narrowly focused on whether board violated any ethics law by accepting the $9000 gift. This is staggeringly beside the point. Helms and fellow board members are presumed to be held to a higher standard than petty thieves. They are in a position of trust, given immense power with little direct, day-to-day public oversight. If we can’t trust them to do the right thing, then we need to find people we can trust.
ABC Officials Repay Pricey Holiday Dinner
The Chairman of the Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and top staff members have paid back $9,000 to an international liquor company that treated the local officials to a holiday dinner last month.
The payback comes as state officials are conducting an investigation into the dinner at Del Frisco's steakhouse in Charlotte, where a hostess said the cheapest steak is $32.95. State ABC Commission officials said last month that they have the authority to remove local board members and employees who violate state laws against accepting gifts.
“We shouldn't have done it,” ABC board Chair Parks Helms told the Observer Monday. “We made a mistake.”
He said that the dinner for 28 people may have appeared improper and that the board will revise its policies to ensure that guidelines about accepting gifts are clear in the future. The Observer's news partner, WCNC-TV, first broke the story in November.
State ABC Commission Chair Jonathan Williams, who ordered an investigation by the state Alcohol Law Enforcement Division, commended the board.
“I am pleased to learn the Mecklenburg ABC is taking steps to ensure that this situation is not repeated in the future,” Williams said in a prepared statement, “and also has taken action to address some of the specific questions surrounding the propriety of receiving a gift of this nature.”
He said the investigation is ongoing and that he couldn't comment further.
The state ABC commission runs the central warehouse through which local stores buy their liquor and handles liquor law violation cases but has rarely exerted authority over liquor stores. Those are run by the local boards that are appointed by county commissions and city councils.
Helms, who attended the dinner with his wife Eleanor, is paying $1,000. He was the only board member in attendance. Among the staff, CEO Calvin McDougal, who was accompanied by his wife Portia at the dinner, is paying $4,000. Both men are covering the tab for staffers for whom repayment would be a financial hardship. Other staff must pay $330 each.
A statement issued by the Mecklenburg board suggested that London-based Diageo, which makes brands such as Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker Scotch, wouldn't gain much by picking up the bill: “The Mecklenburg County ABC system has no business relation[sic] with Diageo other than selling its products in ABC stores in Mecklenburg County.”
The state ABC warehouse essentially serves as storage for the local stores' liquor and sets prices. The distillers still own the liquor until the stores buy it. The local stores determine what is ordered for the warehouse and then pay for it.
Helms said a steady stream of government scandal stories had caused an overreaction to news of the dinner.
“In the business world, you have meetings and dinners with the people whose products you sell,” he said. The Mecklenburg board's statement also said that, in the past, the state commission exempted unsolicited meals from state laws prohibiting distillers from giving gifts to retailers.
In a recent interview with WCNC-TV, Williams said: “In the sales and commercial world, wining and dining is part of how business is done,” he said, “but we're public servants.”
Local board members from Mecklenburg and other jurisdictions have been criticized in the past for annual conferences where liquor companies and others who do business with the state provided drinks, subsidized golf and other freebies. Organizers dropped the golf game from the schedule in 2007 after an Observer story about one of the conferences.
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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, The Meck Deck Blog, John Locke Foundation, WCNC, Google Maps
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