<div id="subtitle">Wis. assembly speaker draws ire, some support, after disclosing relationship with lobbyist</div><div><p>Wisconsin residents angry about Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan's relationship with a lobbyist sent him insulting e-mails this week, including some calling for his expulsion from his leadership position, messages released Friday to The Associated Press show.</p><p>There also were a handful of encouraging e-mails, which were released under the state open records law.</p><p>Assembly Democrats have stood by Sheridan since he acknowledged dating a lobbyist for the payday loan industry in a Jan. 30 Janesville Gazette story. Sheridan has said he's done nothing inappropriate even though legislation to strengthen state regulation of the industry is being considered by the Assembly.</p><p>Sheridan, who has served as speaker since Democrats took control of the Assembly after the 2008 election, said he and Shanna Wycoff dated off and on for several months starting last year.</p><p>"We had a friendship," Sheridan said Monday. "I would never let my personal life impact the work that I do in the state Assembly."</p><p>His assurances were not enough for some members of the public.</p><p>"I will be asking the Democratic party in WI to consider expelling you," John Casper of Milwaukee wrote Monday, in one of the more kindly worded e-mails Sheridan received. "The public trust is NOT FOR SALE. Your casual responses to extremely serious concerns about your relationship with a registered lobbyist were completely unacceptable."</p><p>Gerald Miller from Lake Mills wrote in a Tuesday e-mail that Sheridan was "sleeping with the enemy."</p><p>"I hope you realize there are millions of dollars at stake for the payday loan industry and because the business is sleazy I would question any contact you have with a lobbyist of the industry," Miller wrote.</p><p>Sheridan did receive four supportive e-mails, including one from Mark O'Connell, executive director of the Wisconsin Counties Association, who wrote Monday that Sheridan is "handling the business of the Assembly very very well."</p><p>"You have governed with wisdom and moderation and my members and the voters appreciate that," O'Connell wrote.</p><p>More than two dozen lobbyists employed by payday lenders and related groups are fighting a bill in the Assembly to increase regulations, according to the Government Accountability Board.</p><p>Wycoff is manager of government affairs for Cincinnati-based Axcess Financial, which owns the payday lending chain Check 'n Go. She also lobbied last year on behalf of an industry group, Community Financial Services Association, before withdrawing Dec. 31.</p><p>She has not returned numerous phone messages seeking comment this week, including Friday.</p><p>Wisconsin is the only state that does not set a rate cap for payday lenders, fueling rapid growth of the industry and calls for increased regulation.</p><p>The criticism of Sheridan's relationship has been fueled, in part, by his handling of a bill that would prohibit lenders from charging more than 36 percent annual interest rates on consumer loans.</p><p>Sheridan supported a similar proposal in 2007 but reversed course last year, saying the plan would kill the industry. He then assigned the plan to the financial institutions committee chaired by a representative who has been opposed to a cap. The plan has stalled in that committee.</p><p>Sheridan has said he has assigned a group of lawmakers to iron out their differences and has not interfered with the bill's progress.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=68541749&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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