Desperation and Money
Dear Supporters,
The payday loan industry is up against the wall.
They’re down to their final week — this week — to try to pass a bill through committee and the House Floor, before the House and the Senate begin taking up legislation from the opposite chamber.
This is a critical moment in the campaign to protect the will of the voters and uphold the 2010 sunset. Please call your representatives today:
Tell them to uphold the payday loan sunset!
With their backs firmly against the wall, the payday lenders have opened their checkbooks in ways that are both disturbing and shocking, even for this industry.
They’re trying to pick up at least one Democratic vote in the House and stop the bleeding of Republican votes.
To do so, they’ve taken to:
- Hiring any lobbyist that will take their money. To date, the payday lenders already have 13 lobbyists working the Arizona Legislature, not including Grant Woods and Chuck Coughlin, key advisers to the Governor, who are working the community;
- Wining and dining legislators at unprecedented levels;
- Flying in industry executives, former NFL stars and others to try to persuade legislators to let them stay;
- Showing up at community leaders’ homes unannounced and after hours to try to get an audience and change their minds;
- Hiring popular bloggers to repeat their talking points;
- Stacking the membership of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and other chambers in order to “win” their endorsement; and
- Attempting to hire yet more lobbying firms, particularly major in-state Democratic firms, while making it clear that cost is no object…
All told, they must be spending north of $200,000 a month trying to save their usurious business model in Arizona. And it could be a lot more.
As disturbing as these tactics are, we have seen them before. This is, after all, the same industry that spent $14.8 million trying to promote their phony “reform” initiative in 2008.
And all the while, they are drafting new legislative language that is riddled with loopholes and ultimately still allows their predatory, triple-digit interest rates.
The payday lenders are pulling out all the stops. And they’re talking to your Representatives every day…
Your Representatives need to hear from YOU today!
If you are not certain who your state representatives are, simply enter your address here to find out.
Call your representatives TODAY and demand that they uphold the will of the voters.
Tell them, “The Sun Must Set on 400%. Period.”
Thank you,
David Higuera
Arizonans for Responsible Lending
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Paid for by Arizonans for Responsible Lending
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 Arizona
The Arizona Credit Union League, and Mi Familia Vota.