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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2008 > September > 25 > Entry
Faith leaders speak out on payday lending, casino proposals
Faith leaders who say their churches include a majority of Ohio voters joined together on Thursday, Sept. 25, to speak out on two statewide ballot issues.
They urged a “yes” vote on Issue 5 to keep a new state law that would reduce the maximum annual interest rate for payday lending from 391 percent to 28 percent and a “no” vote on Issue 6 which would amend the Ohio Constitution to permit construction of a $600 million resort gambling casino in Clinton County near Wilmington.
The Rev. John Edgar, pastor of the United Methodist Church for All People in Columbus, said their opponents on both issues are motivated by the same greed that has caused the current national financial crisis on Wall Street.
“What is wrong on Wall Street is worse on Main Street,” Edgar said. The Ohio Council of Churches, the Episcopal Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Vineyard Church of Columbus also were represented at a press conference.
A block away from the faith leaders press conference at the downtown Trinity Episcopal Church, supporters of the effort to repeal the payday lending interest limit said the law is an example of “Big Brother” government intruding into Ohioans’ lives and personal choices.
Also, Rick Lertzman, a backer of the casino plan, said the issue is not morality, but economic. The casinoplan will create 6,000 jobs that can’t be outsourced. “We’re not sending anything off to China,” Lertzman said.
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