When I served as Chief Legal Counsel of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, our team toured Southern Wine & Spirits and met with its leadership. Governor Rauner had directed agencies to cut red tape, with a goal of reducing regulations by 15%.

Southern’s leadership politely commended the effort, then made their position clear: the liquor industry should be exempt from deregulation. If anything, it needed more regulation.

My, how times have changed.

Wholesalers have long argued that heavy regulation is what keeps this industry fair. Unlike soft drinks and packaged food, where suppliers routinely buy shelf space through slotting fees, alcohol’s tied-house rules prohibit pay-to-play. That, we’re told, is what protects small producers and keeps the marketplace diverse.

Yet while that argument was being made to legislators, Southern Glazer’s executives were funding improper payments to grocery buyers, including at a major California chain, to secure shelf placement, and concealing those payments with false invoices. In September, the company entered a non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors, paid $12.5 million, and acknowledged responsibility for its employees’ conduct.

Here is the lesson I draw: the three-tier system didn’t stop pay-to-play. It drove it underground. In an open market, a slotting fee is a transparent, priced transaction that any supplier can compete for. In our “protected” market, shelf space went to whoever could afford to pay it secretly and hide it. That isn’t a free market. It’s what happens when a market is closed and the biggest player gets to write the rules.

Then there’s pricing. Southern Glazer’s recently settled the FTC’s Robinson-Patman Act case, which alleged it gave the largest chains better prices than small retailers. Southern admits no wrongdoing, and I’ll say something you might not expect: I think Robinson-Patman is bad law. Mandating equal pricing among competitors is the antithesis of a free market. On volume discounts, Southern and I are on the same side.

But here’s the difference. I want that freedom for everyone. In many markets, Southern is the only way a product reaches the shelf. Franchise laws and the mandated three-tier structure, which Southern spends millions defending, keep competitors out. Free markets when they help you and closed markets when they protect you is having your cake and eating it too.

So I’ll make Southern Glazer’s an offer. Your own conduct shows you don’t really believe this heavily regulated system is necessary. Come ride with me on free markets. Support direct-to-consumer shipping of spirits. Support franchise-law reform, so suppliers can choose their distributor and change if they’re unhappy.

Compete in the open. I’d welcome you as a brother in arms.