The payday loan issue is heating up. Center for American Progress has a report today on
Preying on Our Troops.
Like Sue Kelly (NY-19) Deborah Pryce is vulnerable on this issue. Details on contributions to Pryce after the jump.
Ohio06win had a post at ohio15thblogspot on
Checks and Tax Credits which quoted from a Cleveland Plain Dealer article that pointed out Pryce has received $15,000 in donations from the two major owners of Buckeye Check Cashing/Checksmart, Lenhart and Frauenberg and their family members, from 2001-2005. State Sen. Ray Miller, a Columbus Democrat, is idenitifed as one of the people questioning Buckeye Check Cashing Inc. (now checksmart). Pat Tiberi OH-12 is also identified as vulnerable on this issue. The article was written before the US Supreme Court decided in Buckeye's favor after, as the Plain Dealer reported "John Cardegna, a 9-1-1 dispatcher in Florida, sued the company in 1999 to contest $3,000 in interest the firm charged him on a $300 cash advance he sought to repair his pickup truck. His lawyers argued that charging interest rates of more than 45 percent is criminal."
A good place to check contributions is
PoliticalMoneyLine where you can search for individual contributions, by zip code, by employer, and by campaign. For Deborah Pryce in 2006, 19,000 in individual contributions from the check-cashing industry:
CNG Financial (Check n go) President David Davis gave 1500, and VP Jare Davis gave 500. Daniel Feehan, CEO of Cash America gave 1000, James Frauenberg of checksmart and his wife gave 7,000) and three other checksmart execs gave 2000 each: Michael Lenhart, William Saudners, and Chad Streff. Lenhart's wife gave another 2000. Dennis Bassford of Moneytree gave 1000.
In 2004, Pryce got 5500 from people associated with checksmart - the Frauenbergs, Bassford, and Timothy Sheehy, and she got 6000 from people associated with checksmart in 2002 (Frauenberg, Danielle Overmeyer and Chad Streff)
So 30,500 in individual contributions
And in 2006 1500 from the Cash America PAC and 1000 from Financial Service Centers of America, the PAC of the National Check Cashers Association
In all, so far $33,000 in contributions to Deborah Pryce identified from these operators.