State of the Race – Yes on 200 losing, Nation watches
PRESS RELEASE – For Immediate Release
Oct 29, 2008
CONTACT:
Melissa Hodgdon, No on 200, (978) 476-9370
With 6 days left, No on 200 Campaign Stands Poised to Pull Off
Biggest Upset in AZ Election History – with National Implications for Payday Lending
Polling indicates that despite 93:1 spending advantage, payday lenders struggling to convince Arizonans to pass Prop 200 – The Payday Lenders’ Blank Check Act
PHOENIX – In the home stretch before Election Day, internal polling indicates that voters are more likely to vote No on 200 than vote Yes by three points, within the margin of error; while a majority remains undecided.
This comes after more than $14.3 million in industry spending to promote Prop 200 as “reform” with misleading mailers and deceptive ads on TV, radio, print, and online.
A poll conducted by the No on 200 campaign of 419 likely Arizona voters showed that 23% were in favor of Prop 200, 26% were opposed, and 51% remained undecided. The margin of error for the poll is 4.9 percentage points.
“Likely voters appear to understand that Prop 200 was written by the payday lenders to benefit the payday lenders, and they’re rejecting it,” stated No on 200 campaign manager Ken Clark. “But with that many undecided voters remaining – and the industry dropping another $2.7 million just in October – we’re certain that Arizonans will be absolutely inundated with misleading ‘Yes on 200′ ads in these final days.”
Arizonans for Responsible Lending, which has raised $153,000 from nearly 300 individual donors across Arizona to combat the $14.3 million industry-funded ‘Yes’ campaign, has promoted a grassroots effort to educate voters about Prop 200 in cities and towns across the state.
“From editorial pages to community newsletters across the state, we are communicating our No on 200 message to more than 2.5 million Arizonans,” stated No on 200 Chairwoman Debbie McCune Davis. “We’re confident our grassroots organizing will pay off.”
About the polling, Clark added, “We’ve still got a lot of work to do to make sure voters do the right thing and reject Prop 200 on Nov 4th. The industry’s ‘yes on 200′ ads are quite deceptive.”
The No on 200 campaign has enjoyed strong bipartisan support from the beginning. At the SHOW THE PEOPLE Rally on October 23rd, Rep. John Nelson, Republican of Glendale said, ”The bill is a bad bill. It’s giving them a license to steal and it shouldn’t be that way.”
Democratic Attorney General Terry Goddard added, “If they pass Prop 200, there is no question that they will have special treatment for the end of time.”
That’s why Governor Napolitano, Congressman Grijalva, Rep. Marian McClure of Tucson, Mayor Sara Presler of Flagstaff, the majority of the Phoenix and Tucson city councils, and more than 50 other elected officials from both parties have endorsed NO on 200.
“Arizonans are appalled at the deceitful advertising the payday lenders have employed in order to pass their sweetheart deal,” said No on 200 outreach director Kelly Griffith. “Arizonans of all political stripes believe that a single industry should not get to write its own laws, and that nobody should get to charge 400 percent interest indefinitely.”
If Prop 200 fails, the special exemption from the state’s usury law that payday lenders currently enjoy is set to expire on July 1, 2010. At that point, payday lenders would need to cap their interest rates at 36 percent like other Arizona lenders in order to stay in business.
In addition to elected officials across the state, over 150 businesses and non-profits have endorsed No on 200, as have leaders of the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the United Church of Christ, the Catholic Church and others.
On Friday, the Arizona Republic became the tenth newspaper in Arizona to endorse NO on 200.
NATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
What happens in Arizona has national implications for the future of payday lending. The industry is attempting to write its own laws via the ballot in both Arizona and Ohio this November – a new tactic – and already has spent a combined $30 million on the effort. If they fail, it would be a severe blow to an industry that has been playing defense for the last few years as more and more state legislatures enforce strict interest rate caps that end 400 percent payday loans.
“Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article makes it 100% clear,” stated McCune Davis. “We must turn back their propaganda machine and vote to restore responsible lending laws in Arizona by voting ‘no’ on 200. The whole country is watching.”
For a current list of No on 200 endorsements, visit www.200isNoReform.com/endorsements
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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
And The Arizona Credit Union League