Louisiana Voice

If you would like a crystal-clear example of the disdain with which elected officials hold their constituency, those people whose interests they are elected to serve, you need look no further than SENATE BILL 365 by Sen. Rick Ward (R-Port Allen).

The bill, which gives Louisiana’s payday loan industry an opportunity to dig its spurs a little deeper into the very people who can lease afford it, was passed in the Senate on Monday by a 20-17 VOTE, with two members not voting.

Of the 20 who voted in favor of the bill, 13 have received campaign contributions totaling $43,250 (an average of $3,327 each) since 2011. Three of those, Daniel Martiny, R-Metairie ($9,500), Body White, R-Central ($9,000) and Gary Smith, D-Norco ($7,950), averaged $8,817 each.

Other recipients included:

• Conrad Appel, R-Metairie: $4,000;
• Wesley Bishop, D- New Orleans: $1500;
• Norby Chabert, R-Houma: $2500;
• Dale Erdy, R-Livingston: $1000
• Ronnie Johns, R-Lake Charles: $3000;
• Eric Lafleur, D-Ville Platte: $1500;
• Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton: $500;
• Barrow Peacock, R-Bossier City: $1500;
• Ed Price, D-Gonzales: $1000;
• Rick Ward, R-Port Allen: $2300.

Fourteen of the 17 senators who voted against the bill also received a combined total of $34,500, or an average of $2,464 each, campaign finance records show.

They included:

• Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego: $7000;
• Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge: $1000;
• Page Cortez, R-Lafayette: $4500;
• Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville: $500;
• Jim Fannin, R-Jonesboro: $2000;
• Gerald Long, R-Winnfield: $2500;
• Dan Morrish, R-Jennings: $2500;
• Jonathan Perry, R-Kaplan: $1500;
• Neil Riser, R-Columbia: $2500;
• John Smith, R-Leesville: $5000;
• Leon Tarver, D-Shreveport: $1000;
• Francis Thompson, D-Delhi: $1500;
• Mike Walsworth, R-West Monroe: $2000.

Good on them for not cratering to the influence of campaign bucks but the overriding question remains: Why do candidates even accept money from these type sources when they know full well their motives?

The bill, if approved by the House and signed by Gov. Edwards who received $6,500 himself from payday loan contributors, would create the Louisiana Credit Access Loan Act, which would allow lenders to issue new payday loans from $500 to $875 for terms of three to 12 months. Present law limits loans to $350 for up to 60 days.

The bill also doubles the annual percentage rate on loans that can be made.

Proponents of the bill say that payday lenders provided a needed service to low-income borrowers who are unable to obtain traditional loans. But what they do not say is that such loans carry a $131 origination fee and 85 percent APR. Ward’s bill would increase the fees to $270 and the annual interest rate to 167 percent.

Jan Moller, director of the Louisiana Budget Project argues that Louisiana’s lower-income citizens upon whom payday loan companies prey, cannot afford triple-digit interest rates, adding that the bill is being pushed by more than a dozen “well-connected lobbyists” who he said are selling “a false narrative.” He said the bill is an example of “greed and arrogance at the highest level.”

The finest legislators money can buy, folks.