Peoria Pundit

On March 3, 2007, Ted Arndt was one of four members of the Peoria Liquor Commission to vote to deny Elliott’s a Class A liquor license. It wasn’t the first time the commission had voted to deny Elliott’s a liquor license, but the question had to be decided again because a court decision said that cities cannot deny an otherwise law-abiding business a liquor license because it provided adult entertainment.

Here’s the thing about Ted Arndt: He has no business being in a position to say “yes” or “no” to anyone’s liquor license. Especially when the business seeking a license offers legal adult entertainment.

Why? Arndt is the sales manager for Joe Abraham & Sons Amusements and Vending. The owner of this company has his hands deep into both the adult entertainment AND tavern business in Peoria. This is what Phil Luciano wrote recently:

[Al] Zuccarini and his partner, Jay Abraham of Joe Abraham & Sons Vending and Amusements, have for a decade owned Big Al’s and adjacent nightclubs at 519 Main St. They recently bought nearly all the properties on the other side of the street, 500 Main St. to 514 Main St., plus the adjacent Madison Theater at 107 NE Madison Avenue.

Arndt’s paycheck depends on Jay Abraham. Mr. Abraham makes more money the less competition there is from other bars and taverns as well as strip cubs.

And it goes further than that. Elliott’s owner Fred Jackson used to work for Big Al’s until what is politely called a “falling out.” That’s why he named his joint after Eliot Ness, the nemesis of “Big Al” Capone.

The city’s legal department has said in the past that’s there’s no conflict of interest. I won’t debate the law, but it sure seems to me that Arndt has interests that conflict with each other. Does he vote approve a license for a hated competitor and risk upsetting his boss?

And it’s not just Big Al’s/Elliott’s conflict that’s an ethical problem for Arndt. From what I understand, Abraham owns buildings all over town that house liquor license holders, and this was before he and Zuccarini bought the Madison building, as well as the buildings that houses the Judge’s Chambers Bar & Grill and other downtown bars.

Arndt’s membership on the liquor commission helps cement Peoria’s reputation as a place where it’s hard to do business. Why should any business owner believe he or she can get a fair shake, when its seems like the people Peoria choses to regulate businesses are people who have a financial interest in saying “no” to competitors?

I just received a copy of the agenda for the July 8 meeting of the Peoria City Council. The council is scheduled to vote on whether or not to reappoint Arndt (as well as fellow board member Don Jackson) to a new term that will expire June 20, 2011.

Arndt should never have been appointed to the Peoria Liquor Commission in the first place. It goes without saying that he should NOT be reappointed. Surely a city the size of Peoria can find someone intelligent, hard-working and without the job-related baggage Arndt carries with him.

UPDATE: I’m still trying to track down a list of ALL the liquor licenses in which Abraham is involved as the property owner. I hear it might be anywhere between 20-30. And each one is subject to review by Ted Arndt.

This entry was posted on July 2, 2008 at 6:35 pm and is filed under Local . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed Both comments and pings are currently closed.