Accusations are flying at the State Capitol as the Ohio House continues in disorder without a speaker. The lawmaker considered to be the frontrunner says his rivals, such as the payday lending industry, are pulling the strings to delay a vote. But a top lending association is mounting its own, major accusation.
The gloves are coming off as the chaos happening within the House Republican caucus builds.
As more and more time passes without a vote for a new House speaker, it seems that leaders and lobbyists are making their issues more public.
Republican Representative Ryan Smith, in an impassioned meeting with reporters, pointed the blame squarely at his opponent for speaker next year, fellow Republican Representative and former Speaker Larry Householder.
鈥淗e鈥檚 the one that brought all these tactics back we saw it before when he was here and he鈥檚 right back here doing the same thing. There鈥檚 no use in sugar coating this, there鈥檚 no use in trying to walk around the issue, it鈥檚 very much him,鈥� Smith said.
Smith wants to replace former Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, whose home was raided this week by the FBI. The feds are reportedly interested in Rosenberger鈥檚 international travel paid for by the payday lending industry.
Householder is not running for the short term Speaker position, but as Smith puts it, Householder has a proxy candidate in the race.
Smith also mentioned ECOT Founder Bill Lager and the pro-ECOT blog 3rd Rail Politics as disrupters in the race, along with the payday lending industry.
鈥淚 think nefarious people such as that are absolutely behind a lot of things. I mean the best that they can have happen is that we don鈥檛 come back and we can鈥檛 pass that bill,鈥� Smith said.
He鈥檚 talking about a tough crackdown that includes an interest rate cap for short-term loans at 28 percent.
Smith was specifically asked if Neil Clark, a lobbyist for payday lending, was included with that group, and Smith said yes. Clark adamantly refutes that claim.
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 made a single phone call to any member and unless I have been trained in Russian mental telepathy I don鈥檛 know how in the world I have convinced all these people not to vote for Ryan Smith,鈥� Clark said.
Clark says the industry can be split in two groups; those who are against any changes to payday lending and those who are for moderate reforms. Clark says his group, the Ohio Consumer Lenders Association, is the latter.
鈥淪o to isolate me and make me look like I鈥檓 an anti-reformer is repugnant,鈥� Clark said.
In light of Smith鈥檚 claims, a letter from the Ohio Consumer Lenders Association, dated earlier this month, has surfaced. The group claims that it was Rosenberger who made threats and tried to strong arm Clark and his people into ending the work they were doing for some sort of compromise.
But Republican Representative Kyle Koehler, the sponsor of the payday overhaul legislation, says any work on a different reform bill is news to him.
鈥淭hey never talked to me about that language and I never knew that existed. If that鈥檚 the case, I鈥檇 like to see that language,鈥� Koehler said.
I asked Koehler if he thought it was fair for Clark to describe his group as pro-reform.
鈥淵ou鈥檇 have to actually want to reform the law. And talk to the bill sponsor who actually wrote language to reform payday lending if that was the case. You鈥檇 have to actually be willing to talk to the person who鈥檚 sponsoring the bill and actually give him proposals,鈥� Koehler said.
The letter accuses Rosenberger of trying to tank the bill to help anti-reform lobbyists. Clark says that鈥檚 the payday lending company known as Select Management Resources, the parent company to LoanMax. Reports say the FBI is looking into Rosenberger鈥檚 international travel with lobbyists from Select Management Resources.
