Banks & Predatory Lenders Donate to Congressman Who Harrassed Elizabeth Warren

Congressman Who Harassed Elizabeth Warren Showered With Donations From Banks And Predatory Lenders

By Lee Fang posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Jul 18, 2011 at 2:32 pm


Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) playing a Nintendo Wii in his office
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) gained infamy in May when he went on a childish tirade against Professor Elizabeth Warren, who is currently setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as a special adviser to President Obama. McHenry, a former College Republican hack, repeatedly accused Warren of lying about the agreed-upon time for testimony she gave before Congress.

According to a ThinkProgress analysis of new campaign finance data released on Friday, McHenry received $63,800 from lobbyists and executives from banks, mortgage companies, payday lenders, pawn shop executives, and other predatory lenders in the last three months alone. Notably, much of the campaign donations from payday lenders came on a single day, April 20, 2011:

– Advance America PAC: $10,000 on 4/20/11
– Dennis Bassford, CEO of the Seattle-based payday lender MoneyTree: $4,600 on 4/20/11
– Sarah Bassford: $2,700 on 4/20/11
– Community Financial Services Association of America PAC (trade association for payday lenders): $5,000 on 4/20/11
– Checksmart Financial LLC PAC, an Ohio-based payday lender: $2,000 on 4/20/11
– A. David Davis, CEO of Ohio-based payday lender Check-n-go: $2,000 on 4/20/11
– Jared Davis, CEO of Ohio-based payday lender Axcess Financial: $2,000 on 4/20/11
– Roger Dean, CFO of Axcess Financial: $500 on 4/20/11
– EZCORP PAC, a Texas-based payday lender: $2,000 on 4/20/11
– Natl Pawnbrokers Assoc. PAC: $2,000 on 4/20/11

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thinkprogress.org

The American public was 100% behind holding the too big to fail banks accountable for the crisis we were all put in. But just like in healthcare, Dems squandered the mandate by including all this other unrelated proposals about pawnshops and ATMs, giving the GOP plenty of ammo to present reforms as a wholesale socialist takeover to the American public. Payday loans are not the problem: don’t like them, don’t use them. But for anyone looking to buy a home, which is a lot of us, they still face the same threats that existed before this crisis because reform has been bogged down.