Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Wasserman-Schultz Climbs into Sewer to Protect Payday Lenders

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a congresswoman from south Florida who also happens to be the chair of the Democratic National Committee, has found herself in a tight primary race this year.  Her opponent, a progressive law professor and political activist by the name of Tim Canova, has quickly proven to be a very popular alternative to the politically-entrenched Ms. Wasserman-Schultz, and he is raising a formidable campaign war chest through small donations from individual contributors.

Ol' Debs, who lacks the mass appeal of Canova, has instead turned to Wall Street for her campaign cash - a much sleazier easier way to amass large amounts of money quickly.   However, the largess of corporate America is never free, and Wasserman-Schultz has already begun paying for her "donations" through political favors.

Just a couple of weeks ago the DNC, under the artful leadership of Ms. Wasserman-Schultz, rolled back restrictions on lobbyists and political action committees making donations to the committee - restrictions which were brought about through the efforts of presidential candidate Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign.  Now, thanks to the efforts of the chairman and her cronies inside the DNC, it will be much easier for outside interest groups to purchase the influence of those hoping to be elected (or more likely, re-elected) to office as Democrats.  It was a stunning move to open the floodgates of corruption.

This week Ms. Wasserman-Schultz used her position in Congress to deal an even more sinister blow to America's poor and working-class families.  According to an article in yesterday's Huffington Post, Wasserman-Schultz is co-sponsoring a Republican-backed piece of legislation that would stop the regulations that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing to place on the predatory payday loan industry - loan sharks with offices.  The Huffington Post had this to say:

"Wasserman Schultz is co-sponsoring a new bill that would gut the CFPB's forthcoming payday loan regulations. She's also attempting to gin up Democratic support for the legislation on Capitol Hill, according to a memo obtained by The Huffington Post.”

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is not representative of the modern Democratic Party, and she is, in fact, a throwback to the Tammany Hall era of government.   She needs to be removed from her position as party chair by a quick and decisive meeting of the National Committee, just as Tim Canova will soon remove her from her cushy seat in Congress.  Perhaps as a private citizen Ms. Wasserman-Schultz will finally be able to connect with working-class people and gain an understanding of how the other ninety-nine percent lives.

Democracy should be about empowering people - not corporations or loan sharks.

2 comments:

Don said...

Absolutely right. What I can't understand is why Bernie has yet to respond to this outrage.

Xobekim said...

In the Kansas City media market Hillary Clinton is on the attack with an ad against predatory pricing of pharmaceuticals. Legalized loansharking is of no difference, it is the rapacious and pernicious practice of sucking the hard earned dollars out of the hands of regular Americans. Hillary's BFF Waserman-Schultz does her no good; and in the hardball world of politics signals the big Goodbye to Debbie.

The offensive piece of legislation is the Consumer Protection and Choice Act (H.R. 4018) & the best way to kill this bill is to defeat Ms. Wasserman-Schultz in the primary. Join me in sending a few bucks to Tim Canova by going to https://timcanova.com/.