Hensley & Co., one of the nation's major beer wholesalers, has brought the family of Cindy McCain wealth, prestige and influence in Phoenix, but it could also create conflicts for her husband, Sen. John McCain, if he is elected president in November.

Hensley, founded by Cindy McCain's late father, holds federal and state licenses to distribute beer and lobbies regulatory agencies on alcohol issues that involve public health and safety.

The company has opposed such groups as Mothers Against Drunk Driving in fighting proposed federal rules requiring alcohol content information on every package of beer, wine and liquor.

Hensley has run afoul of health advocacy groups that have tried to rein in appeals to young drinkers. For example, the company distributes caffeinated alcoholic drinks that public health groups say put young and underage consumers at risk by disguising the effects of intoxication.

The involvement of McCain's family in federal regulatory issues could create a conflict of interest for a future McCain administration, according to advocacy groups and political analysts. McCain has recused himself for many years on alcohol issues in the Senate. As president, however, McCain would face far more difficulty distancing himself from an issue with such broad scope.

If her husband is elected president and she retains her role at Hensley, she will set a precedent for outside corporate activity by a first lady.

Political analysts said they were astounded that the presumptive Republican nominee had not already addressed the issue.

"You can't run a beer company out of the White House," said Samuel L. Popkin, a political science professor at UC San Diego. "You can't run any company from the White House. McCain is leaving a live hand grenade on the table, a major embarrassment."

Public interest groups that lobby on alcohol issues say it will clearly be inappropriate for the McCain family to continue running or owning the company if McCain is elected.

"In a lot of government agencies, there is a concern about undue influence played by a regulated industry," said Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America. "But it has not been to the point that the president's wife owns a majority share of a company that is lobbying an agency."

A close look at Hensley shows that the company has opposed changes that critics of the beer industry say were intended to help Americans drink responsibly.

Hensley's lobbying activities have put the company at the center of a battle that has raged between the beer and liquor industries since Prohibition ended. Under federal law, liquor is taxed more heavily than beer and must contain a label that discloses alcohol content by percentage or proof. Beer and wine containers have no such disclosure requirement, though alcohol content varies widely.

Public interest groups have petitioned the Treasury Department in recent years to require that every container of beer, wine or liquor carry a label disclosing the amount of alcohol in one standard serving.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, the Marin Institute, the Consumer Federation of America and Mothers Against Drunk Driving, among others, assert that such information would help Americans drink responsibly and avoid drunk driving. The label would also contain nutrition information such as calories.

But the beer industry has argued that such labels would confuse consumers. With backing from Hensley and others, it has persuaded the Treasury Department to withdraw the alcohol content disclosure from any future label requirement.

"We strongly oppose any proposal that would back a display of alcohol content in terms of fluid ounces or pure alcohol per 'standard serving,' " wrote Andrew McCain, the senator's son. The 2005 letter was sent to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, a unit of the Treasury Department. Andrew McCain is chief financial officer at Hensley and owns 6.8% of the stock, according to Arizona records.

Similar letters were written by Chief Executive Robert M. Delgado and other senior executives. Hensley executives have also contributed heavily to the National Beer Wholesalers Assn., which operates the nation's seventh-largest political action committee and has argued against the label. Delgado alone has donated more than $20,000 to the group since 2004.

'High-wire act'

McCain has avoided problems in the Senate by recusing himself on alcohol issues, according to executives at the Distilled Spirits Council, the liquor industry's trade association.

"Sen. McCain has been very, very fair to this industry," said Frank Coleman, senior vice president for the council. "He stays an arm's length away from issues that benefit the family business."

While that has worked for McCain as senator, a president can not recuse himself or his administration from public policy issues as broad as alcohol, which is regulated by agencies including Treasury, the Federal Trade Commission, Health and Human Services, and Transportation.

"It is going to be a very difficult high-wire act for the McCain family," said Bruce Lee Livingston, executive director of the Marin Institute, a nonprofit alcohol industry watchdog group in San Rafael. "The big question is how much access the beer industry is going to have to the White House. You would expect the president and first lady to be concerned about alcohol abuse and alcoholism. The first lady and the president need to have a bright line between the White House and the alcohol industry."

Aside from the labeling issue, Hensley has begun distributing controversial products known as flavored malt beverages, which critics call "alcopops" because of their similarity to soda pop.

The beer industry, including Hensley, tried unsuccessfully to block liquor makers from getting into the market for the drinks.

Douglas Yonko, a Hensley vice president, wrote to the Treasury Department on that issue in 2003, asking the agency to avoid dealing "a severe blow to beer wholesalers" by blurring the line between the beer and liquor industries.

In 2006, the Treasury Department issued rules classifying the flavored drinks as beer, though up to 49% of the alcohol in them can be from distilled spirits.

The beer industry, including Hensley, responded by also moving into the market with such products as Tilt, a caffeinated alcoholic drink made by Anheuser-Busch.

Critics say the product is directed mainly at youth and can leave them wide awake without knowing they are intoxicated. Other flavored malt beverages contain sweet fruit flavors that block the taste of alcohol.

"These products are starter beverages, intended to introduce consumers to alcohol and alcohol brands," said George Hacker, director of the Alcohol Policies Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Charles A. Hurley, chief executive of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said his organization would be watching carefully if a future McCain administration exercised influence on any alcohol issues.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-hensley22-2008jun22,0,3931241,full.story

A President tied to the beer industry? Is this every man's dream, instead of Social Security can we get free beer instead? :D

Beer=Liquid Bread

Soylent Green = PEOPLE!!!!!

Does this mean that if McCain is elected, we can expect beer to go up to $150 a barrel?

hahahaha, even as preposterous of a statement I think that is to what you are tying it to, that is hilarious.

Conflict of interest and a Washington lobbyist sitting in the White House!
I dont know about you but Ive had enough of Corporate interest running Washington. Let alone lobbying from directly inside the White House!!

Vote For Someone other that Obama or McCain!

I don't care anymore, I'm just going to smoke some Soylent Green and let the messiah Obama have everyone else pay for my social welfare.

Now Now,
You cant connect Obama to anything like that!

Esp, fighting MADD!!

WRONG, BIG ETHANOL, look it up: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/23/america/ethanol.php

A few members of his own campaign staff are directly associated to it as well.

fanta, i still say u r teaching that gun toting nra dog to kill possum.
okay so it boils down to hilary is out the door. obama is too young, and mccane is too old with wifie issues. so who does that leave? why....see answer below..

CAROLINE KENNEDY or ARNIE SCHWARTZ

Here is the New York Times article talking about his advisors and their links, as well as his own:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/us/politics/23ethanol.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&hp&oref=slogin

I think I just heard Fanta's heart break. Actually, who am I trying to kid, he doesn't care one bit how much of a fake Obama is, that I am sure.

Obama's lobby interest is the worst of all. It is for BIG ETHANOL, corn ethanol that is horribly inefficient and is skyrocketing food prices throughout the world because of the heavy subsidies we give to farmers, thanks to Obama.

He's assisting in starving the third world and hurting us everytime we go to store, for corn is in everything, yippee!

Caroline works for Obama!

No Couckoo hasn't killed a Opossum, but she has killed several birds and a baby rabbit

And, Obama exceeds the min age requirement for Pres.

I DO hope you have your rabies shots!

Lindyy

If so, bet it brings down the DUI's.

Lindyy

I must have missed something, since when does Senator McCain have wife troubles?

Lindyy