I went looking through the campaign finance reports of Democrat Fran Florez and Republican Danny Gilmore the other day. What stood out most to me was the $4,600 Florez has taken from payday lenders — $3,600 from Advance America, and $1,000 from Check Into Cash of California (based in Cleveland, Tenn.).

Florez told me she didn't solicit the money from the industry specifically; she has held two fundraisers in Sacramento and invited the usual suspects.

“I don’t have anything against somebody who’s in business to make a profit," she said. “I wouldn’t want to tell anybody what is fair and unfair.”

She said they're like mortgage lenders — some are good and some are bad, and they should be judged as individuals.

The entire industry has been under fire from poverty advocates, who say the fees charged amount to APRs of hundreds of percents, and point to stories of people who take out one payday loan but have to get another, then another, The industry responds that taking out a payday loan and paying that fee is cheaper than paying the bounced check fees that banks will charge.

— James Geluso