The Best Democracy Alcohol Money Can Buy

Each year, data is released from the Federal Election Commission that reflects campaign contributions for the previous election. In the alcoholic beverage category for 2006, doling out the most cash by far was the National Beer Wholesalers Association. The beer makers gave more than $3 million to candidates, with a whopping 69 percent going into Republican coffers. Of course, beer companies don’t throw around that sort of money without expecting a hefty return on their investment, which might explain why we won’t hear much about increasing federal beer taxes any time soon. Here are a few other alcohol industry players who made hefty political contributions.

* National Beer Wholesalers Association - $3,064,250
* Wine and Spirits Wholesalers - $665,858
* UST Inc (wines) - $531,500
* Southern Wine and Spirits - $176,250
* E&J Gallo Winery - $175,120
* Molson Coors Brewing - $168,597

source: The Hightower Lowdown