Indiana Gets Petitions Underway to Free The Grapes

Indiana attorney Lisa Hays Murray is not your run-of-the-vine lobbyist. She's genuinely interested in helping her clients in the state's wine industry get to the place that they can grow their businesses through internet sales and out-of-state shipping. To wit, her recent activities, best seen on the website http://www.hoosiersforwineshipping.com/

Although the site includes information about Indiana wineries and legislative initiatives, in my opinion the most important feature is a petition for consumers to sign and join the Free Trade cause.

Once they've done this -- and Lisa suggests an all-out effort by wineries including putting a link on their websites, and getting employees, family members, Wine Club members, and visitors to tasting rooms involved -- then those who sign the petition will get a prompt to e-mail their Hoosier legislators at key times in the legislative process. The website makes this easy through its "VoterVoice" component.

"With your help, this will be a very successful grass roots tool and further allow us to educate the Indiana legislators about why they should enact free trade legislation," she wrote to wineries.

Lisa works not only hard, but smart. "I copied this idea –with their permission—off of the retailers’ “Hoosiers for Beverage Choices” website. I used the same webmaster, etc. The retailers have been extremely successful in garnering over 15,000 folks to sign their website petition—10,000 signed up shortly after a media blitz last fall. And CVS collected 15,000 more! " Her goal is to get 10,000 signatures.

With that Hoosier determination in play (Go Pacers!)(Go Nappanee Bulldogs!), they will.