Democracy for Vancouver

The race for State Senate in the 17th legislative district will be heating up soon after the general election officially ‘starts’ after the August 19th primary.  The primary, designed to produce a candidate to take on incumbent senator/serial fund raiser Don Benton, was rendered moot when software developer Martin Hash dropped out in favor of David Carrier, economics instructor and political activist.  Hash worried about splitting the party in two and felt stopping Benton was more critical than personal achievement at that level.  After Hash’s gesture, the real concern for Democrats shifted to how to keep pace with Benton in terms of money.

Benton is widely regarded as the most prolific fundraiser in the Washington State legislature.  He even released a DVD in 2006, “How to Raise More Money Than You Ever Dreamed Possible.”  While the title sounds more self-help than selfless begging for money, Benton does bring home the bacon.  The question is, where does all that delicious bacon (er, money) come from?

The answer?  Not from you, dear district…who Don Benton so proudly claims to work for.  Don Benton’s campaign is funded by some less-than savory industries: banking and insurance companies, PACs and the omnipresent “Big Tobacco” (Phillip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, et. al.).  Lets not forget some other notable Benton contributors: Wal-Mart, the National Rifle Association and numerous cell phone carriers, like AT&T, Motorola and T-Mobile.

Okay, no surprise here, just basic Republican skullduggery.  As unfortunate as it is, we’re already numb to corporations and special interests when they fill GOP campaign coffers.  The real head scratchers in the Benton contributor list are the donations from payday lending firms like Money Tree, and their employees.  The Seattle Times ran a story a while back detailing Benton’s coziness with the industry and how that may play into their legislation seeing greener pastures.  Since then, companies like Money Tree have continued their financial influence.  In fact, according to the Seattle Times, “during the 2004 election, the state’s top 10 payday loan companies boosted their political contributions almost eightfold to nearly $200,000.”

Money Tree president Dennis Bassford has seen first hand the increase of donations from these companies, as his was at the forefront during the 2004 election.  Collectively, politicians statewide picked over $122,000 from Bassford’s Money Tree…up from just $17,200 in 2000.  Bassford attributed the increased contributions to the “maturing industry” of pay day lending.

One of the political benefactors of the “maturing” payday lending industry?  Senator Don Benton.  After siding with the industry’s legislative positions on bills aimed at reigning in payday lending’s most controversial practices, Benton sounded a lot like his buddy, Dennis Bassford.  Payday lending firms’ political contributions were growing “proportionate to the business.”  Hey Don, your talking points are showing!

What is payday lending anyway?  In the most basic sense, payday lending is a short term loan service, designed to get people over the hump until pay day.  The catch is that most loans are offered at incredibly high interest, sometimes forcing borrowers to keep borrowing loans to pay off loans.  This locks them in a cycle of credit dependency and erases any hope of financial independence.  Critics decry the business as profiting from financial hardship…kind of like robbing an old lady of her purse.  Then taking her shoes and making her walk home.  In the winter.  In Alaska.

While the reality of payday lending may not be nearly that bad, it isn’t exactly the kind of “good neighbor” you’d expect to donate to the campaign of a State Senator.  Its okay though, because it’s a maturing business.  How can a business like Money Tree not mature in an economy like this, where we routinely see people out of work and losing their homes.  Its okay…just borrow from tomorrow to pay for next year.  It’ll all work out!

In an election where Benton’s opponent, David Carrier, has pledged not to accept ANY donations from PACs or special interests, contributions like this and others will be heavily magnified, and for good reason.  Maybe with all this talk about change this election season, voters will send Sen. Benton to the unemployment line and to Money Tree…where he’ll be asking for money again, but for an entirely different reason.