This certainly appears a bit icky. You don’t want to have these type of headlines when you’re running for re-election.

The husband of Ohio House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty is a registered lobbyist for CheckSmart, an Ohio-based payday lender with 106 outlets in the Buckeye State.Otto Beatty Jr., a former state representative whose wife was appointed to his seat in 1999, registered in mid-January as a lobbyist in Virginia with CheckSmart, based in Dublin.Ohio lawmakers are considering a number of bills that would regulate Ohio’s payday-lending industry.

“There is no impropriety here, nor am I trying to influence anyone about payday lending,” said Otto Beatty, who described his work on behalf of CheckSmart as legal consulting. “I don’t do that in Ohio.”

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