It isn't only our nation's capitol that is infested with Democrats who either don't support moderate and progressive ideas or are willing to sell them out for promises from K Street.
Wisconsin has a good recent example. The Assembly Speaker, Mike Sheridan, has changed his mind on how tightly Wisconsin should regulate payday lenders. He's also been dating a lobbyist for payday lenders. Sheridan claism that he's opposed to a current bill, though he used to support a similar bill, because he has to be more pragmatic as a leader. Sure.
The Janesville Gazette, his hometown paper started coverage on Saturday with this damaging lede:
Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan said he doesn’t believe dating a lobbyist for the payday loan industry was inappropriate, even though legislation to regulate the industry is pending in the Legislature.
Ouch.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel the largest paper in the state piled on, pointing to Sheridan's inconsistency:
Sheridan, a former United Auto Workers local president who is divorcing his wife, denied in an interview that the two were dating. He said he had seen Wycoff socially a "couple" of times, including at a UAW Christmas party in Chicago.
"Shanna's a friend of mine," he told the Journal Sentinel on Thursday. "And I have a lot of friends that are in the lobby corps. I mean, I think that part of my job is relationship building."
However, over the weekend, Sheridan acknowledged to the Janesville Gazette that the two had dated. He reaffirmed that to the Journal Sentinel on Monday, saying that the Chicago trip was a date. He declined to elaborate on the relationship, saying it was a personal matter. And he maintained that Wycoff's influence had not played a role in his change of heart on the legislation.
Oops.
Finally, Madison's Wisconsin State Journal got around to covering more:
A bill by Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, would cap the interest rates charged by payday loan operators at 36 percent a year. Industry officials say that would cripple their businesses and make it difficult to provide short-term, high-risk loans to borrowers shut out of traditional banks. An aide said Hintz was sick Monday, but he has made public statements supportive of Sheridan.
Change of position?
Haven't I seen this movie?
Shanna Wycoff, who had been representing both a payday lender and the payday lenders' association is no longer registered as a lobbyist for the association. We don't know if it's because they thought her effectiveness had been compromised because the dating was quite public because no one on the lobbying side is answering questions.