The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has totaled up lobbyist activity on the various payday loan bills pending in the state Legislature.
The various lobbyists spent a whopping $669,000 on trying to derail reform.
And that was just in 2009. Wait until the 2010 figures show up.
I’ve heard many tales about the horde of lobbyists descending on the capitol to do the bidding of an industry that made $124 million in profits in Wisconsin in one year (2005). Unlike every other state in the union, Wisconsin does not rein in payday lenders via a rate cap or other regulations. The lobbyists had to protect this lucrative market for their bosses.
The 36% interest cap was torpedoed last year, when Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan said he wouldn’t support it, although he’d sponsored the same legislation in the past. Chalk it up to his “relationship” with a payday loan lobbyist or blame it on the money sloshing through the systemand winding up in accounts that could benefit Sheridan et al. during tough races in the fall.
Sad. Really tragic. Don’t Democrats think that finally cracking down on payday lenders is a winning issue to highlight in this fall’s campaigns? I think so. The rate cap was enormously popular with legislators and the public, who are sick of these lenders preying on the poor. I mean, the campaign ads write themselves. And they’d be true. Try spinning a weak reform bill… or, nothing.
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But noa handful of legislators has to sell out to the highest bidder. The bill passed by the Assembly has some protections, but it could have been so much better. The Senate version is a joke.
