Car insurance, quick cash and Wisconsin's lobbying boom

So much to skewer, so little space:


• Wisconsin will become the second-to-last state in the nation to require all of its motorists to carry auto insurance next June.

It’s hard to argue against more responsibility. Just don’t expect the mandate to work.
About 15 percent of all drivers in Wisconsin go without auto insurance now, according to industry research. Compare that to the 48 states that already require insurance. In those states with mandates, the average percent of drivers who operate without insurance is — 14 percent.

This reminds me of the old joke about driving through a small town in Wisconsin: Don’t blink or you’ll miss it.
The same goes for the effect of this law.


• Wisconsin’s payday loan industry has hired more lobbyists at the state Capitol than there were payday loan stores little more than a decade ago.

The industry has employed at least 27 lobbyists. They’re fighting to stop Rep. Gordon Hintz’s bill to restrict quickie loans that lure poor people into self-destructive spirals of debt. The number of quick-cash stores in Wisconsin has exploded from 17 in 1996 — the year a rate cap of 18 percent was lifted — to 542 today.

Conservatives such as Sen. Glenn Grothman and Rep. Steve Nass have joined liberal Madison lawmakers in cosponsoring Hintz’s bill limiting the lending rate to 36 percent.

Sensing the bill’s momentum, industry lobbyists will push weaker rules with help from their political pals who have received campaign donations from the industry.

What I want to know is if the lobbyists are giving the payday lenders the same guarantee on legislation that those lenders offer their customers on loans: “100% Approval.”

Don’t bet on it.


• The payday lenders are spending chump change compared to the state’s big teachers union.
The Wisconsin Education Association Council spent by far the most of any group on lobbying during the first half of this year, when the state budget was in play. The union’s total for legislative arm-twisting topped $1 million, according to the Government Accountability Board.

For all the complaints about teachers being underpaid, the pockets of their union seem lined with gold.


• Lobbying at the Capitol is enjoying incredible growth despite the recession. I guess when there’s less public money to go around, the special interests need more hired guns to cash in.

The GAB reported that total spending on lobbying at the state Capitol jumped almost 25 percent — to $20.8 million — compared to when lawmakers debated the last state budget two years ago.

All their fancy lunches and fat drink tabs at Downtown Madison restaurants and bars must be helping the service industry. But the slick suits inflate costs for the rest of us by steering legislative attention away from public to pet needs.



• Blaming the economy, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk just warned of a looming county property tax hike. For only the second time in her 13 years, Falk will exceed her self-imposed cap of inflation plus population growth.

One thing is for sure: It’s a lot easier to announce bad news like that four months after winning another four-year term than it would have been prior to the hard-fought April 7 election.


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