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Corbett: Regulate, Not Sell Liquor

Opponents of privatizing the state liquor system say that selling the state stores would unfairly benefit large corporations and wholesalers, and terminate thousands of state store jobs. But Governor Corbett came out this week to say that he still can't get past the logic of a state being in the business of selling liquor.

Heading into the commonwealth's "booziest" holiday, it may strike the casual observer as odd that the state is both selling alcohol and penalizing those who abuse it. "We are enforcing the liquor laws, we are enforcing the drunk driving laws, we are enforcing the drinking laws, yet we have the main agency when it comes to liquor saying, 'drink more.' Get out of the business," said Corbett.

About 62 percent of Pennsylvania voters surveyed in a recent Quinnipiac University poll said that they supported privatizing liquor stores. Last month, a private group commissioned by the governor to size up the state's liquor system advised that the stores should be sold.