Yesterday, I wrote about a fight that Sen. Sam Brownback is picking with the Department of Defense -- the DoD wants to make sure that car dealers who make loans follow the same rules as any other lender, but Brownback wants to let them have a special exemption. I was curious why Brownback, who is retiring, would pick this ugly fight.
I learned, though, that I haven't been paying enough attention to Kansas politics -- Brownback is retiring so he can run for governor. Local auto dealers can be big economic players smaller polities (they have a disproportionate influence in House districts, for instance) so in race for a state office like this one, it's no doubt in Brownback's interest to have them on his side.
-- Tim Fernholz
