Sunday beer sales: Interest brews

Beer vote may blur city election

By JEFF WILKINSON - jwilkinson@thestate.com

Adam Bedenbaugh never has voted in a city election, but he will Tuesday because of a referendum to allow retail beer and wine sales Sundays in Columbia.

“It’s all I’m really interested in,” he said.

The 25-year-old USC doctoral student is one of hundreds — if not thousands — of voters who potentially could cast ballots in the City Council races without knowing much about the candidates.

“I think I might know one of their names,” he said, “but I can’t pronounce it. Runyan?”

Bedenbaugh plans to research the choices in the only race in which he can vote — the citywide contest between incumbent at-large Councilman Daniel Rickenmann and challengers Cameron Runyan (pronounced RUHN-yin), Lea Walker and Nammu Muhamed.

City Hall wags say the Sunday beer vote is the great unknown in the election. But few predict it will have a huge impact on the outcome, because there has been no organized opposition to Sunday sales.

“I don’t know if it’s pulling that much interest,” said political consultant Bob Wislinski, a former campaign manager for Mayor Bob Coble and others. “But if you have more people coming out for that, then I think it benefits the incumbents, because they have higher name recognition.”

But there is only one incumbent: Rickenmann.

The other contested race is for the seat to be vacated by Anne Sinclair in District 3, the Shandon-Rosewood area. Three candidates — Brian Boyer, Belinda Gergel and Reed Swearingen — are vying for that post in an expensive campaign.

Gergel and Boyer have spent more than $120,000 each. Much of that money went for television ads, direct mail and billboards.

Gergel and Boyer probably will split the beer vote, Wislinski said, because of their heavy advertising.

“They are both first-time candidates, and both have about the same name recognition,” he said.

Wislinski said crime probably will head the issues list for the citywide race. The issue of neighborhood protection and growth control probably will top the list in District 3.

But the beer referendum might bump up the usually tepid turnout for city elections.

In 2006, only 13,122 of the 61,000 or so registered voters in the city cast ballots — in what was considered a hot race between Coble and challenger Kevin Fisher. Only 8,204 voters cast ballots in the 2004 election in which Rickenmann ousted former at-large member Jim Papadea.

The referendum is a first for Columbia, even though state law for several years has allowed counties and municipalities to decide about Sunday beer sales.

The cities of Greenville, Aiken, North Charleston and Summerville allow Sunday retail beer and wine sales, as do Charleston, Horry and Georgetown counties.

Under current law, restaurants in Columbia and in Richland and Lexington counties can sell alcoholic drinks to be consumed on the premises of restaurants and bars on Sundays. But people can’t buy beer, wine or liquor in a store and take it home.

The proposal, if passed in the referendum, would extend to just beer and wine, not liquor.

Coble, who supports Sunday sales, said he doubts the issue will draw many voters.

“Unless there is a flurry of media coverage, I’m afraid most people won’t even know there is a referendum. I think the council races will drive the referendum and not the other way around.”

Reach Wilkinson at (803) 771-8495.