Dirty Tricks Come Up Short

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Stealing a page from anti-union campaigns, DC's payday lenders pulled out their bag of dirty tricks Tuesday, siccing the cops on former employees who blew the whistle on their exorbitant practices. After Check 'n Go issued a press release yesterday falsely accusing whistleblower Michael Donovan of being a convicted felon, Payday lobbyist Tom Cassidy attempted to have whistleblower Bill Harrod arrested on a trumped-up charge right outside Council chambers during debate on the payday bill, reports Jillian Aldebron of the Center for Responsible Lending. In addition, Aldebron reports, "Check 'n Go imported its head of security from Ohio to tail Donovan all day." City councilmember Mary Cheh and other councilmembers were outraged and confronted Cassidy publicly from the Council dais. "But it was all for naught," says Aldebron, as the Council voted 12-1 to cap loanshark interest rates.