John Michael Spinelli at ePluribus Media gives a great political overview of what happened in Ohio. From his article today:
Even though the alleged harm payday lenders were causing Ohio borrowers struck a major chord with newspaper editorial boards who helped fan the flames that may have burned the industry to the ground, proponents of a bill that originally sought to make minor reforms that included more protection for consumers said the head of steam the bill generated in the past several weeks was more to do with politics than true concern for consumers.
One theory on the politics behind the bill says that House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, who is term limited and seeking to win a seat in the state senate, had his future and the future of Rep. Chris Widener, a term-limited member from Springfield who also seeks to move to the senate in the fall and who chairs the committee in the House that held hearings on the bill, more in view than the plight of preyed upon borrowers. Another key lawmaker, Sen. Steve Stivers, R-Columbus, running for a Congressional seat this fall and who is fighting to overcome his pedigree as a bank lobbyist turned lawmaker who sponsored major tort reform legislation that sided with industry over the interest of consumers, likely wanted an issue he could campaign on this fall that demonstrated his concern for coming to the defense of consumers.
One insider theorized that both Husted and Widener wanted to insulate themselves from the message editorial boards would have hit them with come election time had they backed the tweaked version of the bill the industry was lobbying for.
Widener was supporting the industry bill that would have kept the APR at 391 percent, but turned on a dime recently when Husted cracked the whip on him to introduce a stricter version of the bill.
