Mike Thompson: Robber Barron or Robin Hood

Perhaps this is an old can of worms. But today's NY Times had a rather interesting piece which some folks here might care to shed more light on: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/04/us/po ... ml?_r=1&hp

Basically, to save some time for those not interested in reading the article, the core issue I gather seems to be Thompson's (a US House of Representatives member) ownership of a vineyard north of Napa which, if he gets his way, would be part of a new appellation to be called "Big Valley" and designed, I supposed, as appellations are in France to regulate the quality and of course, boost the market of those growing and sourcing their grapes from there.

Some see him as a wine advocate across the board doing his job in Congress, and others, it seems, are skeptical that a farmer with property can push for his own industry and remain clean-handed in the process.

Anyhow, this is not directly related to the drinking and enjoying of wine, but certainly touches on some issues dear to our hearts like wine prices, alcohol taxes, and the general image of wine production in the US. I don't really have an opinion on Thompson, due to lack of further knowledge, but I thought it would be interesting to hear any side of the discussion you guys and gals have out there.

[David M. Bueker]

Actually it's just another form of pork politics.

[Robin Garr]

In the abstract, the highest ethical standards would call for disassociation and recusal from voting on any subject in which the congressperson has a financial interest. On the other hand, as David suggests, this is very much business as usual in these times, and the Napa guy who represents the wine industry seems kind of minor when contrasted with all the congresscritters in the pockets of Big Pharma, Big Oil and so many other Bigs.

Strikes me more of a hatchet job than anything. Lipton seems surprised that Bonterra pays about 10% more for Thompson's SauvBlanc grapes/NapaVlly than the average paid for LakeCounty SauvBlanc grapes and implies it's because of Thompson being a USRep. Well...doh...they are NapaVlly grapes.
They also imply that Thompson's NapaVlly vnyd would benefit from the LakeCnty BigValley AVA petition that he's supporting. That seems quite a stretch to me.
His big constituents in his district are winery owners & growers. Seems like a no-brainer that he would support the wine industry. I doubt he benefits much from those measures because he's a grape grower.
Much ado about nuthin'.
Tom

Yeah, it seemed to me that the Times was looking for a story that really just ain't that big. Obviously, if they were covering all the craziness of the "Other Big" industries it would embarrass nearly every guy on the Hill.

Tom; last time I checked, Lake County wasn't part of Napa Valley.

Mike Thompson is extremely well liked in the valley by both Dems & Reps. because he works very hard for the wine industry in general, big & small. He is a congressman not a senator, so representing the local interest is your job. Who said all politics are local? He did vote against the war in Iraq and the Republicans voted for him anyway.
We did have one Republican congressman that I can remember since we've lived here but he was more interested in saving everyone for Jesus and many Republicans led the effort to oust him after one term to elect Thompson a Democrat. Religion sometimes has trouble paying the bills.

Tom; last time I checked, Lake County wasn't part of Napa Valley.

He is also a vineyard owner, growing 20 acres of sauvignon blanc grapes at his farm north of Napa.

I took that to mean his vnyd was "north of Napa", the town of Napa, in the NapaVlly. Typicakl fuzzy journalism I'd say.
Tom