Don’t blast ATC for enforcing the law

Editor’s Note: This is a response to coverage and recent 225 editorial positions on ATC enforcement actions taken regarding Chelsea’s Café.

The old Huey Long adage about it not mattering what they say about you in the press as long as your name is spelled correctly certainly is an arguable antidote. Regardless of this benefit versus cost analysis, I appreciate the opportunity to set my position straight.

Alcohol regulations and laws are always going to pit the haves and have nots—or, maybe better said, the ones who want alcohol against those who don’t. This conflict has been the basis for all alcohol public policy and zoning laws since Prohibition, and it is reflected in every law dealing with alcohol’s existence.

I was first appointed by a great Republican governor (Mike Foster) whose platform was reform and government accountability. Those were my marching orders then, and that has not changed under the subsequent two governors, and certainly not under Gov. Jindal’s administration. The ATC office has maintained some of the highest compliance rates in the nation regarding youth access to both alcohol and tobacco products, while at the same time cutting paperwork and assisting honest taxpayers to get in and stay in business.

All of your magazine’s coverage regarding this agency’s response to certain restaurant- versus-bar issues has tried to paint me as the bad guy. Let me do the math here. The businesses in your articles freely admit that they have been operating outside of the law for 10 years. ATC tries to allow them the opportunity to rehabilitate—or get the proper license needed to operate—and they refuse to do either. ATC enforces the law as it always has since 1996. They finally get the right license.

How is that flipping a coin?

Alcohol has been an issue in America and in the world from the beginning of time. The economics and benefits to society from its manufacture, sale and consumption—if regulated in a system with integrity—always outnumber the negative consequences. However, the unintended consequences caused by the abuse of alcohol by both individuals and businesses can cause tremendous hardships to our communities. Our office and the enforcement of the laws on the books, as given to us by the Legislature, are intended to create balance between the social and economic concerns of our communities.

I truly believe that is what the overwhelming majority of our citizens want and expect from their government.