White’s remarks also point to just how deeply rooted the payday loan industry has become in state government. Davis and others are reaching for that old Texas metaphor, “the fox in the henhouse,” to describe just what’s wrong with the situation. But what, exactly, is the fox doing in the henhouse (other than grinning through a mouthful of feathers)?

White and his company, Cash America, documents show, have been intimately involved in trying to undermine the efforts of Texas’ big cities to regulate payday and auto-title loans at the municipal level. And in his role as finance chair, he was instrumental in passing a resolution against tighter regulation—one that the payday loan industry used to its advantage at the Legislature. While White oversaw the Texas Finance Commission, his colleagues at Cash America worked behind closed doors to draft legislation with regulators.

The biggest challenge the payday loan industry has faced in Texas over the past few years is arguably a rear-guard action by Texas’ big cities. Over the past few years, every big city in the state has passed ordinances regulating consumer loans within their city limits. On Tuesday, El Paso reaffirmed its ordinance. The industry has fiercely opposed the local efforts, launching PR campaigns, a lobbying blitz at the Capitol and suing some of the cities. Absent city rules, payday and auto-title lenders would be free of almost any Texas regulations.