Maine is getting out of the liquor business. The decades-long trend toward privatization (from a 70-store state monopoly in the 1970s, only 13 of the Maine’s 260 retail outlets are state-owned today) and the impact the $101 million savings closing those stores and divesting the wholesale operation would have upon Maine’s $1.1 billion budget shortfall make this inevitable.

Inevitable, but not simple. The strongest argument for keeping the state in the liquor business and, in fact, for returning to the days of monopoly has always been that state stores run by state employees with no profit motive are more inclined to control improper sales to persons already intoxicated and, more importantly, to minors.

Evidence that getting the state out of the liquor business is not as simple as merely deciding to do it comes from the Bureau of Liquor Enforcement, a branch of the Department of Public Safety targeted for elimination in Gov. Baldacci’s budget-balancing plan. Starting in January, the bureau conducted checks of all retail outlets for compliance with the law that all customers present proof of legal age. This program was modeled after the tobacco-compliance checks that began several years ago – minors, under the supervision of law-enforcement officers, would attempt to buy liquor.

They did not lie about their ages, nor they did not present false ID. They just plopped a bottle down on the counter and attempted to pay for it.

Of the 260 attempts, they succeeded 71 times. That is, more than 27 percent of private stores licensed to sell liquor and, in return, agreeing to uphold the law failed utterly. There were not cases of clerks trying to do right and being duped by sophisticated fake IDs; these were cases of clerks not even trying.

This dreadful result might argue for the state to not only stay in the liquor business but also to revert to the days of monopoly. That argument fails, however, on two points: At an average annual cost of $84,000 per store, Maine cannot afford to run enough stores to meet public demand; liquor sales are an important source of revenue for Maine grocers and convenience store operators, and the compliance check indicates that 73 percent of them obey the law.

It argues quite successfully for more stringent oversight and tougher laws, an argument the Legislature should heed as it completes the inevitable.

The bureau has but 13 officers to work a large state of 16 counties with 260 stores. Much of their time, however, is spent not on curtailing illegal liquor sales, but in seeing that merchants comply with the Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages’ arcane and meddlesome regulations regarding inventory, pricing, shelf space, displays and promotions. The penalty for a first offense of selling liquor without checking ID is an unacceptably light two-day license suspension and an agreement to provide staff training. Maine should get out of the liquor business; it must not sell out on liquor enforcement.