Vos/Churchill/London junket story gets payday hook

Robin Vos has said he took a free trip with lobbyists to London because it would further his study of Winston Churchill.

Which is important, given all the two have in common.

Churchill helped defeat Fascism and Nazi Germany, soldiered in several wars and won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Vos went to war with Scott Walker on Twitter, fought for higher speed limits, co-chaired Marco Rubio's presidential campaign in Wisconsin, and most recently twice used his powers unsuccessfully to get an Atlanta, Georgia sand mining company back-door permission to fill a wetland in central Wisconsin despite the presence there of a rare stand of trees.

Now it turns out that the trip also brought him in close proximity to some of the people who have brought payday lending to Wisconsin. 

Over the past decade, Wisconsin Republicans have received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from the leader of a title loan company that sent lobbyists along with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on a free trip to London...

Vos, a Rochester Republican, has drawn notice this week for taking the four-day trip to England — an August excursion that contributed to the resignation Tuesday of his counterpart in Ohio.

Vos has defended taking the free trip, saying he followed state ethics laws in accepting it and never talked about legislation with the lobbyists for LoanMax, a Select Management title lending business.

The connections are obvious: Look for Vos to cut ribbons when PayDay Winnie stores break ground in Wisconsin.

Because "Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD DL FRS RA PayDay Stores" won't fit on a sign.