Payday Pundit » COHHIO

“…a strong sentiment among voters….”

August 31, 2008 | Bill Faith, COHHIO, Columbus Dispatch, Ohio, customers, employees, industry, industry critics, media coverage, states | Comments (1)

That what the 400,000 signatures represent. The Columbus Dispatch story is here:

“This effort was a great opportunity to hear from Ohioans, and it’s clear from this massive number of signatures there is a strong sentiment among voters that politicians need to stop killing jobs and financial choices in the state,” said Bridgette Roman, legal counsel for Dublin-based Checksmart and a lead member of the payday coalition.

A “no” vote on the issue would allow lenders to continue charging a 391 percent annual interest rate ($15 per $100 on a two-week loan). A “yes” vote would limit lenders to a maximum 28 percent plus a $15 origination fee on a two-week loan. The fee difference on a $300 loan is $45 versus $18.

More yada, yada, yada from Ohio “consumer” groups

August 22, 2008 | Bill Faith, COHHIO, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio, industry, industry critics, media coverage, regulation, states | Comments (0)

This time they’re asking for a probe into the signature gathering process of the pro-referendum team. This tactic is standard fare in these fights. Probe away. And while officials are at it, how about a probe into Bill Faith and the anti-payday lending groups? Where do they get their money?

Ohioans for Financial Freedom: Bill Faith should stop lies, disclose funding

August 22, 2008 | Bill Faith, COHHIO, Ohio, industry, industry critics, regulation, states | Comments (0)

Here’s the hot off the press news release:

Committee Says Bill Faith Should Stop Perpetuation of Lies

Disclose Spending

Columbus― The Committee of Ohioans For Financial Freedom today responded to Bill Faith’s ongoing efforts to confuse Ohio voters.

“We have fully investigated these bogus allegations and yet Mr. Faith continues to perpetuate lies – especially about Butler County where we have documented evidence from the Secretary of State and Butler County Board of Elections, that our circulators were NOT there,” said Kim Norris spokesperson for Ohioans For Financial Freedom. “Rather than perpetuate lies, the public would be better served by knowing who is paying for Bill Faith’s campaign – he should report where the money is coming from.”

The Committee investigated this allegation of two homeless individuals allegedly being paid $1.00 for their signatures and found it to be completely false, and asked Bill Faith to immediately retract this false allegation, and any references to it on his website or any other website maintained by his organizations.

The Committee did not obtain the Attorney General’s certification of its summary of the law to be referred until late in the day on July 10, 2008. Circulation of the Committee’s referendum petition did not begin until July 12, 2008. It is impossible for either Mr. Schirmer or Ms. Smithers to have signed the Committee’s referendum petition in June, let alone to have been paid for doing so.

The Committee was required to collect at least 1,000 signatures for each of its three preliminary petitions submitted to the Secretary of State and the Attorney General for their certifications, all of which were submitted to the Secretary of State and the Attorney General on June 9, 25, and 27, 2008. The Committee reviewed the signatures collected for these preliminary petition efforts, and discovered that no signatures from Butler County were collected for any of these three preliminary petitions. This is consistent with the Secretary of State’s certifications for the Committee’s three preliminary petitions, all of which indicate that no signatures were submitted from Butler County for any of the preliminary petitions. So, neither Mr. Schirmer nor Ms. Smithers signed any of the Committee’s preliminary referendum petitions.

Also, the Committee has reviewed all of the part-petitions and signatures collected thus far from Butler County and neither Mr. Schirmer’s nor Ms. Smithers’ signature appears on any of the Committee’s part-petitions, at least through August 12, 2008, the date this allegation was made.

Ohioans For Financial Freedom is currently circulating petitions in Ohio with summary language approved by the Attorney General. It:

Repeals section (3) of H.B. 545 offering consumers more lending options
Allows for short-terms loans to be made under H.B. 545

Repealing Section 3 of H.B. 545 means protecting 6,000 good-paying jobs with benefits, protecting Ohioans’ financial freedom and protecting consumers’ rights to privacy about their personal financial choices.

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(The Payday Pundit: If any of our readers know where Bill Faith and Ohio’s anti-payday lending crowd gets its money, please email us. The reporters in Ohio won’t do their jobs, so we’ll have to do it for them.)

Ohio update!

August 22, 2008 | Bill Faith, COHHIO, Ohio, industry, industry critics, media coverage, regulation, states | Comments (0)

Too late to change referendum language. Read it here:

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner won’t review the approved ballot language for a proposed referendum on the state’s new payday lending law, a spokesman from Brunner’s office said.

Ohio Ballot Board members William Morgan and state Sen. Keith Faber, R-Celina, Thursday had asked that Brunner convene an emergency meeting to review the ballot language. In a letter, Morgan and Faber complained that the ballot language adopted for Issue 5 could mislead or deceive voters.

Leave the sarcasm to us

August 17, 2008 | Akron Beacon Journal, Bill Faith, COHHIO, Ohio, industry, industry critics, media coverage, regulation, states | Comments (1)

We believe that we can do sarcasm better than any newspaper, especially this one. It think it’s fair to say a Pulitizer Prize is not in this publication’s future.

Comment of the day II

August 13, 2008 | Bill Faith, COHHIO, Ohio, industry, regulation, states | Comments (0)

In response to our Blah, Blah, Blah post about the accusation of activist groups against petition gatherers, we received this comment from CJ:

Liberal media strikes again. No proof. No nothin’. Is the Gov. of Ohio THAT afraid of letting this issue be put on the ballot for THE PEOPLE to decide??????

Strip club spokeswoman leading charge against payday lenders in Ohio

August 13, 2008 | Bill Faith, COHHIO, Columbus Dispatch, Ohio, customers, employees, industry, industry critics, media coverage, regulation, states | Comments (2)

Last year, Sandy Thies was the spokesman for a strip club referendum in Ohio, according to this story. In that capacity, she defended the industry against charges that petition gatherers were not telling the truth. Now she’s out there accusing RejectHB545 petition gathers of being misleading. Can she be taken seriously?

Update: We were just informed that Sandy is a female. Note the pronoun changes.

Blah, blah, blah in Ohio

August 13, 2008 | Bill Faith, COHHIO, Ohio, industry, industry critics, media coverage, regulation, states | Comments (2)

The anti-payday lending mob in Ohio may have found one referendum signature gatherer who crossed the line. They’re trying to make a federal case of it. This is typical of the tactics used during referendum campaigns. Next, they will be challenging the signatures. Here are a few stories on the issue: WCPO,WHIO, Middleton Journal.

Fight, fight….

August 11, 2008 | COHHIO, Dayton Daily News, Ohio, industry, regulation, states | Comments (4)

Calm down, it’s a non-violent fight we’re talking about. According to this article, it’s about the wording of the Ohio referendum:

In anticipation that they’ll get on the ballot, the payday lenders will go before the Ohio Ballot Board on Thursday, Aug. 14, to try to craft the wording to their advantage and to get the coveted “No” side.

The anti-payday lending forces — a coalition of political leaders and advocates for the poor – will do the same.

Both sides want No because when it comes to statewide ballot issues, if voters are confused, they usually say “No thanks.”

In a referendum, voters are asked if a law passed by the General Assembly should be approved.

Ballot Board member Paul Tipps, a Democrat, said the No side may not matter as much this year because the board is emphasizing clarity and brevity in how issues will be worded.

We’ll keep you posted.