Contact:
Gretchen Schuldt, WJI executive director
414-331-0724
gretchen@wjiinc.org

July 20, 2017 – Attorney General Brad Schimel should return the $2,500 campaign donation he received from a predatory loan company executive who was in business with a suspected mob associate, the Wisconsin Justice Initiative said Thursday.

“The reality and the optics are both awful,” WJI Executive Director Gretchen Schuldt said. “The attorney general should know better.”

WJI reported on its blog that Schimel accepted the donation from Rod Aycox, of Alpharetta, GA, on March 15.

Aycox is the founder and chief executive officer of Atlanta-based Select Management Resources and routinely pumps big money into campaigns of candidates sympathetic to the exorbitant-interest payday/title loan industry. Aycox also operates companies under the names LoanMax, Midwest Title Loans and several other brands, according to The Center for Public Integrity. Aycox, a former used car and insurance salesman, was at one time a co-owner with Alvin Malnik of Title Loans of America. Malnik is  a reputed mob associate, according to press reports.

“This is terrible company for the state’s top law enforcement lawyer to keep,” Schuldt said. “It raises real questions about just who Brad Schimel will rub shoulders with or do favors for to get a few dollars for his campaign.”

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