The Winston-Salem Journal weighs in on problems with local ABC boards:

Multi-billion-dollar businesses can’t be run efficiently without adequate operational standards. But that is pretty much the way 167 local Alcohol Beverage Control boards were being allowed to function in North Carolina.

The General Assembly stepped in and changed that this month.
North Carolinians and visitors spend billions of dollars every year on alcohol, whether in restaurants, bars or at the local ABC outlet. The net revenue stream — in other words, the profits — to local governments and the state’s General Fund is about $260 million a year.

Yet local boards, as recent scandals demonstrated, were operating with very little state supervision, with few standards for how employees were trained, paid or even hired.

Again, what blows me away about Greensboro’s ABC scandal is the fact that —- as the N&R reported —-system general manager Katie Alley “became chief of the ABC system after working for several years as a part-time clerk.”

I’m curious to know if I should interpret that literally, or if Alley had some full-time experience before rising to GM.