The payday loan industry has a new friend in Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee. Wasserman Schultz is co-sponsoring a piece of legislation – ironically titled the “Consumer Protection and Choice Act” – which would delay and eventually block new regulations sought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Why is Rep. Wasserman Schultz going to bat for an industry that is bleeding her constituency dry to the tune of $280 million per year? One possibility: Florida’s leading family of payday loan profiteers is a major donor to Wasserman Schultz, and shelled out a series of large contributions to her campaign last June. Perhaps she is repaying the favor.
For Florida-based Amscot Financial, predatory lending is a family business. CEO Ian MacKechnie – who is worth millions – has said that he “sympathizes with his hard-luck customers” and that he wants to “feel like we’re offering valuable services at reasonable prices.”
MacKechnie does not exactly bring a strong ethical record to this work, however. In the 1990s, Amscot Financial pleaded guilty to racketeering charges and agreed to end its insurance business after regulators found that it was tricking customers into buying unnecessary financial products.
MacKechnie runs the business with his wife and two sons, but this is hardly a mom and pop operation. Amscot currently has 235 payday lending locations across Florida, and MacKechnie said he wanted to be the “Walmart of financial service” in a 2009 interview.
To that end, Amscot consistently spends $320,000 per year on lobbying, a total of nearly $3 million over the last 10 years. Their lobbyists include Holland and Knight’s Jim Davis, a former member of the Florida House of Representatives and once included former FL Governor Charlie Crist’s Chief of Staff, Eric Eikenberg.
When it comes to politicians, Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a MacKechnie family favorite. Since 2010, Ian MacKechnie and his family have donated $9,600 to her and $38,850 to her PAC, Democrats Win Seats, placing the family among her top all-time donors.
In two days last June, not long before she co-sponsored the payday lending bill, they cut a series of checks totaling $10,200 to her and her PAC.
The MacKechnies are also fans of Dennis Ross, the lead sponsor of the bill. He has brought in $19,600 from AmScot Financial.
Click through the map below for details on these contributions.