Nastiness Begins In Mayor’s Race

Meet Tommy the Loan Shark. No, it’s not the Camden Riversharks’ Finley or Shark McGwire, this is a brand new mascot. (Presumably, he’s not a pervert.)

No, Tommy the Loan Shark is an attack by random people without any affiliation to anyone in any other mayoral hopeful’s camp bashing Tom Knox for payday loans a bank he owned made around the turn of the millennium.

Knox’s Crusader Bank gave out high-interest loans before the FDIC told them to cease the practice. And if you total it all up, the interest was 400 percent, which is on the back of the shirt Tommy the Loan Shark is wearing. (Head over to Metro’s Fight for Room 215 to see that.)

Although Knox says it was the right decision to end the practice, he does defend the loans as a boon to struggling poor people. Metro says a source — we are all about these today, aren’t we? — said Tommy is connected to the Bob Brady campaign. Brady spokeswoman Kate Philips denies it, but does say: “It sounds pretty damn clever, though.” Because there’s nothing more clever than a giant shark mascot.

Shark attack [Fight For Room 215]