Our Stories
Share the power of long-term recovery. If you are in recovery, a family member, friend or ally of someone in recovery, we want to hear your recovery story!
Learn more...
Faces & Voices of Recovery's book page
has information on many of the growing number of recovery-related publications. It’s a work in progress, so please let us know of other books that you think we should include. Check it out!
|
Recovery in the News
Drinking no longer drives politics
Carrie Sheffield
The Politico
May 14, 2007
During a recent episode of "The Sopranos," Christopher Moltisanti tries desperately to give up drinking because his alcohol addiction is screwing up his life.
But business gets tough when his fellow mobsters tell him that drinking nonalcoholic beer makes him less of a man. Christopher gets frustrated and goes back to the bottle so he can advance his career.
Christopher should have left the Bada Bing Club and moved on down to D.C., where even though alcohol is a staple at many social functions -- from congressional receptions to schmoozer dinners -- a nondrinker can move up the job ladder just fine.
Abstemious for whatever personal, religious or health reasons, teetotalers in town feel just as comfortable these days as their counterparts who drink.
"I've been here 26 years, and I have noticed an incredible decrease in the amount of drinking at events," said Rick Jauert, communications director for Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.). "Years ago, it was flowing at every event," but now it's not uncommon for events to be alcohol-free.
Jauert said he gave up drinking nearly seven years ago for personal reasons. His boss, the first practicing Muslim elected to Congress, does not drink for religious reasons but does serve alcohol when hosting some events.
"There's much more of a health awareness all the way around," said Jauert, who orders sparkling water when out on the town and says he has not had a problem with people pressuring him to drink. "People are much more cognizant. They eat healthier, they don't smoke anymore."
Whenever Jay Trent Liddle, an attorney with Laubscher & Associates, declines a drink, he said, people are "very respectful."
"Occasionally, someone that doesn't know me at first may ask why I don't drink, but it isn't a big deal to anyone," said Liddle, who does not drink because he is a Mormon. "I may be going into a bar once a year at most. When I do go, I always get a Sprite."
On Capitol Hill, more than 210 members from the House and Senate belong to the Congressional Wine Caucus, a group interested in policy issues that affect wineries. Co-chaired (predictably) by two Californians, the group hosts half a dozen wine tasting events a year but always includes water, juice or soda for nondrinkers.
"I don't think there are a lot of people who go to the wine tastings to get drunk," said Spencer Peterson, a spokesman for Republican Rep. George Radanovich, who heads the caucus along with Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat.
"The alcohol culture is not nearly as pronounced as it was 15 or 20 years ago," said Michael Toner, former commissioner of the Federal Election Commission. Toner, now an election law adviser at Bryan Cave Strategies in Washington, participated in many political events as counsel to the Republican National Committee and to the presidential campaigns of President Bush and former Sen. Robert Dole.
"There's much greater sensitivity today to the fact that many people are not drinkers and to the need to have those people at political events on the Hill and downtown," Toner said.
That's not to say D.C. is drinking any less than the rest of the country. According to the National Institutes of Health, in 2004, D.C. topped state rankings for wine consumption at just under a gallon per person. Californians, for all of their lush wineries, washed down a mere half-gallon apiece.
The District ranked second, behind New Hampshire, in per capita alcohol consumption, with roughly 4 gallons of alcohol per person in 2004. That's quite a steep decline from the 6.6 gallons of alcohol that D.C. residents consumed, on average, in 1970.
"I don't think any of the Capitol Hill water holes are in danger of going under," said Toner, who said he drinks socially. "There's more sensitivity to nondrinkers. It's a more inclusive culture and has an impact on the way things are structured."
One former Republican staffer said some campaign aides bristled when former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), then chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, instituted a no-drinking policy during the 2003-04 campaign cycle. The policy was enforced for campaign staff members, both in their personal and professional lives.
Longtime journalist Robert Novak said D.C.'s drinking scene has evolved greatly during his 50 years in town. "At lunch, almost everybody used to drink, and a nondrinker at lunch particularly was embarrassed, so a nondrinker would order a thing like a Campari and soda or a nonalcoholic kir," he said.
"Today, nobody drinks at lunch. I can't remember the last time somebody ordered a drink over lunch," continued the nationally syndicated columnist. "I would say the nondrinker has much less trouble today than he had 50 years ago or even 25 years ago."
Novak said politicians who either don't drink or drink moderately are no less susceptible to corruption than those who do. In fact, he says, politicians are probably more error-prone now than in years past -- but at least then they were animated.
"Now they're more like automatons or Stepford wives," Novak said.
Whether drinking has an effect on employees' bottom line is up for debate. Economists Edward Stringham and Bethany Peters last year published a study in the Journal of Labor Research claiming that male drinkers' salaries are 10 percent higher than those of their nondrinking counterparts. Men earn another 7 percent if they frequent bars. Women who drink earn 14 percent more than female nondrinkers, regardless of whether they go to bars.
"Any job where networking is important, then my guess is social drinking is an important factor," said Stringham, a professor at San Jose State University, who found that 80 percent of Americans say they drink. "Certain people do pass certain judgments about people who don't drink in certain areas of the country. Certain people may look at someone who's not drinking and might feel a little suspicious."
Carol McDaid, a health care lobbyist for Capitol Decisions and a recovering alcoholic for 10 years, agrees.
"Alcohol is a social lubricant that makes a lot of social events go 'round," said McDaid, whose firm represents Hazelden, an addiction treatment group based in Minneapolis. "There are a lot of folks who feel uncomfortable when people don't participate in that social lubrication. They ask me, 'How come you aren't drinking? Aren't you going to hang out? Aren't you going to have a glass of wine?'"
McDaid said when hosting clients for dinner or social events, she avoids potentially awkward situations by identifying the oenophile in the group and asking that person to order wine or drinks.
"I tell them, 'I am going to pass off the wine list and let you order, but I'm going to pick up the tab,'" said McDaid, 47. She also sometimes hires people to take clients -- especially the younger ones -- drinking late into the evening.
McDaid, who has been in town for 25 years, said in her younger days, she felt her career was enhanced by the fact that she drank.
"I have no independent way to verify that, but I think that early on in my career, it was probably very helpful to my career that I drank, and not only drank, but drank excessively," McDaid said.
McDaid said the social hang-ups she endures as a nondrinker are more than worth the stability she has gained in being able to keep a steady job, home and family.
That stability also appeals to Matt Braynard, a Republican consultant and pollster who doesn't drink. Braynard said his sobriety doesn't handicap his professional life in the least.
"At the end of the day, good work talks. Money talks," said Braynard. "I wouldn't put too much stock into a business deal made in a bar, over a couple of drinks, over a deal made in a professional setting."
Braynard, a triathlete and marathoner, acknowledged there are pros and cons to going dry.
"There are some people who I know feel a lot of pressure to go out and drink and be one of the boys," Braynard said. "On the one hand, maybe there is a little bit less camaraderie, but on the other hand, there may be a little more trust. They are trusting you to be the person who is driving them home."
© 2007 Capitol News Company, LLC