The Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA), whose membership includes the world's top liquor brands, has contributed another $1 million to oppose an initiative on the fall ballot that would break the state's grip on hard liquor sales and allow private stores to sell liquor. According to the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission, the liquor trade association has now contributed $5.8 million to Protect Our Communities, the campaign opposing Initiative 1183, ironically by using the message that alcohol is dangerous.

WSWA has contributed 94 percent of the money to the no on I-1183 campaign.

The company's prime associate members are liquor giants Patron Spirits and Pernod Ricard, which generated $7 billion in annual revenue last year and includes brands such as Absolut, Jamieson, and Seagrams. Also ironically, these corporate giants claim they are in the game to oppose the "corporate profits" of retailers like Costco, according to the campaign's website, even though WSWA is also driven by "corporate profits."

Open Secrets reports that WSWA donates 60 percent of its lobbying funds to Republicans and last year had Sarah Palin deliver the keynote address at its national convention. But if I-1183 passes, it could set bad precedent that the WSWA may lose its lucrative stronghold on distribution in states (to big, bad corporations) [this sentence is updated to make clear that the WSWA's interest appears to be in avoiding setting national precedent for distillery-to-consumer sales—WSWAS did not reply to a request for comment], an outdated post-prohibition model that many states scotched with when the liquor industry was privatized.