Alcohol Policies Project

Center for Science in the Public Interest

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Center for Responsive Politics

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The Power of Beer Money

  • According to the Center for Responsive Politics:

    • The National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA) political action committee is the second-largest PAC contributors to members of Congress, donating some $2,946,500 to Senate and House candidates in the 2006 election cycle.
    • Anheuser-Busch, Inc. contributed more than $300,000 to Missouri legislative candidates in 2003-2004.
    • Coors Brewing Company donated $52,000 to political candidates in Colorado in 2002.
    • In the 2004 presidential campaign, George W. Bush received $778,307 from the beer, wine, and liquor industry, far more than any other candidate, and well over twice what John Kerry received from the industry.

  • A 1997 report from New Mexico reviews alcohol lobbyists' contributions to state policymakers and the high rate of alcohol-related problems in the state.1  An AP article revealed how Miller Brewing Company gave $11,000 to the Beer Institute and an organization called New Mexicans for Fair Taxation to buy television ads opposing a proposal to increase alcohol taxes in the state.2

  • Research reports have documented an association between industry's contributions to policymakers and legislative results supported by the industry.3

  • Three out of four Americans are concerned that the beer industry gives money to legislators.  Moreover, most Americans (69%) believe that it is inappropriate for politicians who accept money from the beer industry to vote on a bill to reduce the beer tax.4

  • The beer industry also buys influence, innocence by association, and friends by making "charitable" donations to organizations.  Some gifts are even tinged with irony, such as NBWA's partnership with Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) to deflect the focus from beer's contribution to sexual assaults to personal responsibility issues.  Sexual assaults, as well as most rapes of college women, occur when either the perpetrator and/or the victim are under the influence of alcohol.5

  • Brewers cover their bases in the community by contributing to such groups as:

    • 100 Black Men of America

    • Alliance for a Livable World

    • American Forests

    • BACCHUS and GAMMA Peer Education Network

    • Big Brothers Big Sisters

    • Boy Scouts of America

    • Boys & Girls Clubs

    • The Children's Center

    • Girl Scout Council of Greater St. Louis

    • Girls Inc.

    • Hispanic Scholarship Fund

    • March of Dimes

    • National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week

    • Take Stock in Children

    • Urban League

    Few of those groups ever strongly advocate policies opposed by the beer industry.

References:

1. Lopez, D.A. (1997). The influence of alcohol & tobacco money in New Mexico politics. Report by Re-Visioning New Mexico, Inc.

2. Massey, B. (2004). Richardson committee top recipient of lobbyist contributions. AP article. May 4, 2004.

3. Common Cause. (2000). Paying the Price: How Tobacco, Gun, Gambling & Alcohol Interests Block Common Sense Solutions To Some Of The Nation's Most Urgent Problems. Research Report. Online: http://www.commoncause.org/publications/price/index.html.

4. MADD/CSPI Nationally Representative Poll conducted by Penn, Schoen, Berland & Associates, Inc. July and August 2002. 6. Mohler-Kuo, M., Dowdall, G.W., Koss, M. & Wechsler, H. (2004). Correlates of Rape while Intoxicated in a National Sample of College Women. Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 65(1):37-45.

5. Mohler-Kuo, M., Dowdall, G.W., Koss, M. & Wechsler, H. (2004). Correlates of Rape while Intoxicated in a National Sample of College Women. Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 65(1):37-45.

Page updated June, 2007