Costco in spirited bid to privatize liquor sales

The campaign for Washington state’s Initiative 1183 is based on the belief that Costco shoppers should be able to pick up a fifth of Jack Daniels along with their family pack of hot-dog buns and three-pound tubs of mixed nuts.

And Costco is willing to pay to make it happen. The warehouse-store giant, based in Issaquah, Wash., already has broken a state elections spending record by sinking $22.5 million into the initiative campaign, which would privatize Washington’s state-run liquor business.