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Rep. Borton: Failures by Liquor Control Commission are inexcusable
RELEASE|March 21, 2024
Contact: Ken Borton

Rep. Ken Borton is calling for reforms within the Michigan Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) after the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) uncovered widespread mismanagement within the commission. The MLCC is made up of five unelected governor appointees.

The OAG investigation revealed that more than 62,000 state-owned bottles of liquor were missing and uncovered extensive accounting failures. The value of the missing bottles totaled nearly $1 million, over 20 percent of its total inventory. The MLCC could not provide any information about the missing supply and was forced to process a refund to all vendors for the missing bottles.

“In a time where families are making every dollar count because of the devasting impact of inflation, it is completely inexcusable that any state department can just lose a $1 million worth of inventory,” said Borton, R-Gaylord. “This is another overwhelming example of government failures at the highest level. A million dollars is a lifechanging amount of money in Northern Michigan, yet the MLCC viewed it as so unimportant they couldn’t even be bothered to report their losses to the public.”

The MLCC manages spirit products by facilitating sales through authorized distribution agents (ADAs) using 11 state-owned warehouses. The OAG revealed that the MLCC failed to keep adequate sale and purchase records. From February 2021 to August 2022, $1.1 billion in spirit orders were not filed in the state’s online ordering system. The MLCC also gave liquor licenses to three organizations prohibited from selling alcohol. Sales from these three businesses totaled $272,139 from Jan. 1, 2018, to Aug. 5, 2022.

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