Whitney: Amid coffeehouse chaos, citizens fight back

Rick Ahlers typically doesn't frequent Josiah's Coffeehouse & Café during the summer because he doesn't drink hot chocolate in July. He made an exception Wednesday.

The owner of a body shop near Josiah's in downtown Sioux Falls closely followed the controversy surrounding the café and its owner, Steve Hildebrand, whose fight against the payday loan industry made him a target of out-of-state activists and big-money brokers.

The recruitment of homeless people by professional protesters posing as "missionaries" rubbed Ahlers the wrong way. He walked into Josiah's and signed a petition for a ballot initiative that would cap the fees and interest payday and title loan companies can charge, giving voters a chance to eliminate the industry in South Dakota.

Ahlers found he wasn't alone. The place was packed with regular customers a day after the orchestrated upheaval reached a boiling point of police involvement and media frenzy.

"I thought the whole thing was underhanded," said Ahlers of the efforts to disrupt Hildebrand's business. "We're a little old-fashioned around here. That didn't go over well."

There was no sign Wednesday of Floyd Pickett, the so-called "Deacon Pete" exposed as an operative of Rod Aycox, owner of Georgia-based Select Management Resources, which runs North American Title Loans and other businesses that critics claim prey on low-income customers.

After several weeks of harassment under the guise of Christian charity, in which homeless people were brought to the small café for food and beverages, Hildebrand was made aware of the tactic to disrupt normal business and slow the collection of petition signatures.

He learned that Pickett lives in Atlanta by way of Peoria, Ill., where three years ago he arranged for a gift of $25,000 to a community center in his hometown from the Rod and Leslie Aycox Family Foundation.

In a Peoria Journal Star article in 2012 announcing the donation, Pickett is listed as doing "contract work" for Aycox and tells reporters of his boss: "This man gives and expects nothing in return."

That statement is laughable, since Aycox has donated millions of dollars to federal, state and local candidates to fulfill his role as the payday loan industry's "most impassioned evangelist," as described in the Atlanta media.

According to Hildebrand, Aycox came to Sioux Falls last month with the intention of persuading the café owner and political consultant to drop his petition drive. When Hildebrand refused, the guerilla tactics commenced.

There was talk that this payday lending battle could get ugly, and here was proof. South Dakotans for Responsible Lending (the effort started by Hildebrand and Sioux Falls pastor Steve Hickey) had already seen efforts to confuse the public with a similar-sounding petition drive, as well as a legal challenge of the state's ballot wording. But this was something else.

This was boots on the ground, messing with a small business owner whose friends and loyal patrons – as well as some neutral observers – found the tactics unseemly. Maybe this stuff works in other states, where people are battle-weary and immune to outrage. But here we expect a fair fight.

Column continues after photo gallery.

If you want to debate the merits of payday lending and argue that some folks have few other options, that's fine. But don't expect South Dakotans to adopt an "avert your eyes" attitude when the high-stakes bullying begins. We feel affronted when one of our own gets messed with. We feel inclined to fight back.

When Pickett, who is black, and his foot soldiers started to accuse Hildebrand – a proudly gay former campaign strategist who helped get President Obama elected in 2008 – of being a bigot, all bets were off.

If the mission was to curtail the petition effort and get Hildebrand and his supporters to back off, the strong-armed approach had the exact opposite result.

"People kept saying over and over, 'We don't do that in South Dakota,'" said Matt McLarty, who volunteered to gather signatures at Josiah's on Wednesday after hearing of the ruckus. "It created a backlash where we're going to get over 1,000 signatures today. The lines have been out the door."

Few were more motivated than Tove Hoff Bormes, owner of the Rugs & Relics store that is an East Bank neighbor of Hildebrand's café. She delayed opening her doors Wednesday so she could work the petition drive at Josiah's, where she collected more than 200 signatures over the course of about five hours.

"It's funny how things work sometimes," said Bormes. "These guys intended to intimidate Steve into backing out of this thing, and look what happened instead. It was a major underestimation of who we are as a community."

As for figuring out the ruse and discovering that Pickett was not exactly a Christian missionary, Bormes said: "Do they think we don't have the Internet in South Dakota?"

Attempts by Aycox to distance himself from the controversy ring hollow, given his history of active involvement and association with Pickett. The tactics were tawdry enough to create common ground between Hildebrand and Chuck Brennan, the Sioux Falls native and Dollar Loan Center founder who clearly opposes efforts to cap lending rates.

"Although I completely disagree with his stance on short-term lending, I do have a certain admiration for (Hildebrand) as a small business owner," Brennan said Wednesday. "I have never met or known (Aycox), so I can't comment on him. One party is a competitor and another wants me out of business. Maybe I should just stay away from both of them."

Keeping other opponents away might be a tougher sell. There was a small private security presence at Josiah's on Wednesday, mainly to prevent any commotion from disturbing other businesses. But there is a feeling that more fireworks will be coming as the Nov. 8 deadline for obtaining nearly 14,000 signatures draws nearer and opponents take aim.

"These folks have multi-million dollar income streams," said Reynold Nesiba, the treasurer for South Dakotans for Responsible Lending, who stood outside Josiah's with clipboard in hand. "They have big houses and private jets that need to be financed, and they're going to fight hard. They're not going to go away quietly."

If we learned anything this week, it's that potential voters and concerned citizens in South Dakota also don't scare easily. We're more than capable of making a little noise ourselves.

Argus Leader Media city columnist Stu Whitney can be reached at swhitney@argusleader.com. Follow him on Twitter @stuwhitney