CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- There's no such thing as a free lunch, and now Mecklenburg ABC Board employees are finding out just how expensive a "free" dinner was.
The ABC staffers are repaying a leading liquor distributor -- Diageo -- after a pricey holiday dinner party led to questions of conflict of interest and a state investigation.
The Mecklenburg liquor board announced Tuesday it is repaying $9,334.15 to Diageo. A board statement said, "While the dinner was a holiday social gathering, it may have created the appearance of impropriety."
The statement goes on to say, "while (board) Chairman (Parks) Helms and Chief Executive Officer Calvin McDougal acted in good faith; after reflection, the invitation should have been declined."
Board Chairman Parks Helms has said repeatedly that the board has no direct business connections to Diageo and other liquor wholesalers. However, the board's employees have control over which Diageo products to order through the state ABC warehouse in Raleigh and how much of each brand to buy.
The NewsChannel 36 I-Team reported last month that some of the very same employees who place those orders accepted the expensive drinks and dinner, held Nov. 18 at Del Frisco's -- a SouthPark steakhouse.
The board's written statement, which was sent to the state ABC Commission and its chairman Jon Williams, claims that the commission has a history of viewing such meals as an "accepted business practice" and one that was exempt from state laws banning gifts from liquor dealers to retailers.
But the ABC Commission provided memos dating back more than a decade, which warned local ABC boards against accepting meals that were anything more than "modest hospitality." A 2003 memo from Acting ABC Commission Chair Ann Fulton to the Alcoholic Beverage Council cautioned against the perception that boards were being "wined and dined" by the industry.
That memo was prompted by a NewsChannel 36 I-Team report documenting the "hospitality" tents hosted by liquor industry representatives at a conference attended by Mecklenburg ABC officials at a resort in Palm Springs, Calif.
Last month's holiday dinner party plus drinks cost an average of $333 per person.
A spokeswoman for the state ABC Commission said the state's investigation into gifts from liquor industry representatives to employees of the Mecklenburg ABC board is ongoing.
