While Prop 200 Chair Derides Voters, Arizonans en masse Oppose Payday Lenders’ Measure
PRESS RELEASE – For Immediate Release
October 30, 2008
CONTACT:
Melissa Hodgdon, Arizonans for Responsible Lending, No on 200
(978) 476-9370
‘Yes on 200′ Chairman Calls Voters ‘Ignorant’
Meanwhile, State leaders and financial advisors warn of deception, far-reaching impact of predatory payday lending on businesses and borrowers, and urge NO on Prop 200
PHOENIX – As the public face of the out-of-state payday loan industry in a battle with Arizonans for the right to charge 400 percent interest, Arizona lobbyist Stan Barnes must be feeling a bit lonely this week.
The industry’s campaign has spent $14 million on direct mail, radio and television advertising, but failed to win measurable support from Arizonans who understand that the measure, Proposition 200, is no reform. Many early “yes” votes were cast by voters who thought Prop 200 really meant reform. Like voter Carol DeHasse in Tucson, many of them now want their vote back.
This morning, in a debate on Ankarlo Mornings on 92.3 KTAR between Stan Barnes and Sen. Debbie McCune Davis, Chairwoman of the No on 200 campaign, Mr. Barnes became clearly flustered at his campaign’s inability to gain any traction with the voters and lashed out at Sen. McCune Davis, calling her “sanctimonious” because she had the audacity to point out the lies in Proposition 200.
This, despite the fact that Barnes is earning $10,000 a month from the payday lenders to run the ‘yes’ campaign – a mere fraction of the lobbying fees he has earned over the past six years, and continues to earn, representing the industry.
Barnes even went so far as to state on KTAR, “The average voter is ignorant,” when discussing why so many voters don’t support the industry-written proposition.
On the contrary, voters appear to be smarter than the payday lenders thought they’d be.
Governor Janet Napolitano called on citizens to vote No on Prop 200 last week: “In today’s economy, the last thing we need is to force working families further into debt. Join me in voting No on Proposition 200.”
Attorney General Terry Goddard told rally participants that if Prop 200 passes, “391 percent interest rates will then be voter-protected and will last forever in the state of Arizona – the legislature can’t do anything about it! Let’s not perpetuate a disastrous situation. Let’s vote No on Prop 200 and go forward to give a chance for consumers in this state.”
Barry Aarons, a lobbyist for Phoenix business owners who describes himself as coming from the conservative side of the political spectrum, added his warning: “The only way that any changes could be made [if Prop 200 were to pass] would be by spending millions and millions and millions of dollars to put it back on the ballot at some future time.”
Republican state representative Marian McClure described Prop 200 this way: “It’s just smoke and mirrors. It is not reform.”
And Republican state representative John Nelson put it simply: “The bill is a bad bill. It’s giving them a license to steal and it shouldn’t be that way.”
State senator Debbie McCune Davis, chair of the No on 200 campaign, warns that the payday lenders’ advertising is all intended to trick voters into thinking they should vote for Prop 200 to reform a bad industry.
“They’re attacking themselves now to give the impression their position is the same as voters’,” said McCune Davis. “Thirteen early voters interviewed by the campaign after they voted ‘yes’ thought they were voting to reform payday lending. One man said he was going to go home and ask his wife to vote ‘No’ to cancel out his vote.”
The Arizona Republic ran this story today highlighting the deceptive TV ad campaign funded by the payday lenders, and urging voters again to reject Prop 200.
“The payday industry, which apparently has no supporters except those on payroll and their immediate families, continues to jog out lobbyist Stan Barnes to promote the supposed virtues of Prop 200,” stated Richard Elías, Chairman of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, and active opponent of Prop 200. “Clearly, it’s not working.”
National money gurus Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey warn about the perils of payday lending. Orman advises consumers to get out of the payday lending debt cycle even if it means taking a loan from their 401K. (www.suzeorman.com)
Radio personality Dave Ramsey, in an appearance on a CBS segment last year entitled “Loans to Avoid at All Costs,” said that payday loans are one of the worst of predatory loans.
“It’s taking advantage of the very people who cannot afford to be taken advantage of,” said Ramsey. “They get stuck in it and can’t get out, like a dog chasing its tail – there’s just no place to go.”
For more information, visit: www.200isNoReform.com
To listen to the whole KTAR interview click on the following link and drag the player icon to about 1 hour and 11 minutes into the show: http://ktar.net/blogs/dankarlo/category/podcasts/
With posters supporting Prop 200, Arizona payday lending stores acknowledge the industry needs reform, but hide the fact that the measure would make 400 percent interest rates legal for payday lenders indefinitely. Many of the 700 stores in Arizona display these posters.
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Paid for by Arizonans for Responsible Lending
No on 200
Major Funding by AARP Arizona
Center for Responsible Lending, N.C., SEIU, Washington, and SIMG, Tucson
Additional Support from Arizona State Credit Union, UFCW Local 99
The Arizona Credit Union League, and Mi Familia Vota
Ken Clark, campaign manager (602) 561-5881
Melissa Hodgdon, communications director (978) 476-9370