Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws Announces New Executive Director
Signage at a local winery in Maryland supporting MBBWL
As you may recall from this post on the Free State Wine Project, Adam Borden resigned as executive director of consumer advocacy group Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws (MBBWL) back in March amid accusations of… “aggressive” tactics in support of a bill that would have allowed direct shipments of wine to Maryland consumers (and wine bloggers). Despite Adam’s sacrifice – his only intention in stepping down was to allow the rest of the group to continue it’s work without any distractions – and all the effort on the part of MBBWL’s tireless volunteers, the bill ultimately never made it out of committee.
Now, MBBWL is gearing up for another push in 2011. The first step, of course, was bringing on a new executive director. Today the group named John Hesse, an experienced advocate at both the federal and state level in Maryland. It looks like John should have no trouble picking things up right away and moving the group even further toward a successful direct shipping bill. We wish him and all the supporters of MBBWL the best of luck during the next legislative session in what could be a very different political climate following state elections this fall.
You can read the complete announcement from MBBWL here and on their website at www.mbbwl.org. We’ll keep you posted on what you can do to help support direct wine shipping in Maryland as the opportunities arise.
