By Steve Ahlquist in Rhode Island’s Future
Thomas Tobin, who recently celebrated his tenth anniversary as Bishop of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence,
came out against payday loans in an editorial on The Rhode Island Catholic.
After referring to such loans as “heresy” Tobin said, “Usury,
the charging of extreme interest, is condemned by Catholic doctrine.
Recently Pope Benedict XVI explicitly condemned usury in his
encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate.
St. John Paul II called usury ‘a scourge that is also a reality in our time and that has a stranglehold on many people’s lives.’”
St. John Paul II called usury ‘a scourge that is also a reality in our time and that has a stranglehold on many people’s lives.’”
“Rhode Islanders,” continued Tobin, “especially R.I. Catholics,
should stand up against payday lending, the usury of our time. The extremely
poor need protections from what appears their only option in a challenging
economy. Extreme rates of interests, with little chance of payment in a timely
fashion, are not the way to grow a healthy economy. Instead, the poor need
regulations against financial charlatans who seek the economic ruin of those on
the margins.”
That usurious lending is ideologically opposed in Catholic
theology should come as no surprise to Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello, a lifelong Catholic, who continues to
oppose reform.
“The case has not been made to me to terminate an industry in
our state,” said Mattiello last month,
“The arguments against payday lending tend to be ideological in nature.”
This would not be the first time that Mattiello has found himself politically at odds with his putative faith. A Providence Journal report, published shortly after his accession to speaker, says, “A Roman Catholic who for half his life had been a lector at Immaculate Conception Church, in Cranston, Mattiello opposed gay marriage.
His view changed, he says, as
society became more accepting and the issue became one of equality. Today,
Mattiello says his vote to legalize gay marriage is one ‘that I am proud of,’
even though it cost him his lector position.”
Mattiello’s recent statement on payday loans is no different
than the view he expressed back in March 2014, when he said, “Payday lending is a hot button issue,
but the consumer likes the product. It’s an ideological approach. I will make
my decisions based on evidence and how it actually impacts people and our
economy. I’ve asked for evidence on that issue in the past in my position as
House majority leader and I’ve been promised a dozen times over, and I’ve never
gotten evidence on that.”
What evidence Mattiello is looking for is hard to imagine, given
that year after year the House Finance Committee hears
testimony from the AARP, the Economic
Progress Institute, Rhode Island Coalition for the
Homeless, Rhode Island AFL-CIO and the Rhode Island Payday Lending Coalition. These groups present
reams of evidence detailing the harmful effects of payday loans to both
individuals the state’s economy.
To some, Mattiello’s willful ignorance about the plain evils of
payday loans seems predicated on the special relationship he has with the
payday loan industry’s paid lobbyist.
According to RI Monthly, former Speaker of the House William Murphy, who is the paid lobbyist for the payday
loan company Advance America Cash Advance Centers,
is “like a brother” to Mattiello. “In 1994, Mattiello ushered at Murphy’s
wedding.” In 2006 Murphy encouraged Mattiello to go into politics, starting him
on his path to speaker of the house.
One of Speaker Mattiello’s favorite words is “outlier” in that
he claims he doesn’t want Rhode Island to be one. “Rhode Island is one of only
13 states with an income tax on Social Security,” said Mattiello, “and I am
tired of our state being an outlier.”
Sam Wroblewski, at WPRO, writes, “Mattiello said not
assessing fees to out-of-state trucking operations makes Rhode Island an
outlier in the northeast.”
One way that Rhode Island is an outlier that doesn’t seem to
bother Mattiello is payday loans.
“Rhode Island payday loans are authorized to carry charges as
high as 260% APR,” says the Economic Policy Institute,
“Payday lenders can charge this rate in Rhode Island because in 2001, payday
lenders received a special exemption from the state’s usury laws,making RI the only state in the Northeast to do so. The
exemption enables licensed check cashers to make payday loans as at 260% rather
than complying with the state’s small loan laws.”
Apparently, being an outlier is okay if one of your best friends
is making $50,000 a year.
It seems clear that the day Nicholas Mattiello will allow a vote
on the abolition or restructuring of payday lending laws here in Rhode Island is
the day that Advance America decides to stop employing Mattiello’s friend Bill
Murphy as a lobbyist. Until that day, the poor will continue to be exploited
and money will continue to be sucked out of Rhode Island communities.
Catholic ideology be damned.
Steve Ahlquist is a writer, artist and
current president of the Humanists of Rhode Island, a non-profit group
dedicated to reason, compassion, optimism, courage and action. The views
expressed are his own and not necessarily those of any organization of which he
is a member.
His
photos and video are usable under the Creative Commons license. Free to share
with credit. Consider supporting Steve's efforts by sending a donation through
PayPal to the email atomicsteve@gmail.com.
Twitter: @SteveAhlquist