Senate to query liquor nominees

A Senate confirmation committee will likely talk Tuesday about whether two new appointees to the state liquor commission are drinkers — at least briefly.

"I don't think it's going to be the focus of the inquiry," said the committee chairman, Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem. "I think they're going to be looking for people with open minds."

Dr. Richard Sperry and Jeff Wright were nominated last week by Gov. Gary Herbert to fill the two vacancies on the five-member state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission. Their nominations require Senate approval.

Sperry does not drink as a member of the LDS Church. Wright said he is a social drinker. Nondrinkers would continue to outnumber drinkers three-to-two on the commission if the Senate approves the pair.

Valentine said that doesn't matter. As a nondrinker, he sponsored the massive overhaul of the state's liquor laws last year that eliminated private club membership requirements.

"I'm looking for experience more than I am balance on the board between drinkers and nondrinkers," Valentine said. "Somebody who's a moderate drinker doesn't bother me."

What would bother him, Valentine said, is a "person that is totally just saying drinking should be banned, we should go back to Prohibition. That person is not appropriate to have on the DABC."

The chairman of the liquor commission, businessman Sam Granato, agreed the ratio of drinkers to non-drinkers isn't important.

"I'm on there as a nondrinker and I think I've been in tune with what the needs of the public are," he said. "I don't think you need to drink the product to run the business."

Sperry, an anesthesiologist and an associate vice president for health sciences at the University of Utah, said he understands "from a professional perspective why we regulate alcohol."

What he doesn't know much about, though, is the business of distributing and selling alcohol. "I'm anxious to learn and certainly willing to learn as much about the business I will regulate as I possibly can," he said.

Sperry said he understands the need for balance on the commission. "In some form or other, everyone's perspective needs to be respected and represented," he said. "So putting on people who are responsible drinkers or have a business interest, I suppose, would accomplish that."

Wright, founder of both a private investment firm and a communications company, said as a social drinker, he understands the customer for what amounts to a $200 million business in the state.

What is more important, he said, is looking at how alcohol regulation affects economic development and tourism. Wright said he supported former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s efforts to do away with private club memberships, calling them "a perception impediment."

Herbert made it clear he wants "a balanced, reasonable approach" to alcohol regulation, Wright said, but did not discuss drinking. "I think the governor is well aware of my background, but it was not brought up and it was not an issue," he said.

The governor's spokeswoman, Angie Welling, said during the interviews Herbert "did not ask potential appointees if they consumed alcohol. He was looking for qualities they could bring to the commission."

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