Montana’s Attorney General Steve Bullock has a record of standing up for people of all income levels, that’s probably part of why he wanted become our Attorney General — to run the agency in charge of protecting Montana consumers.   So when Steve sets up an economic forum, like the one he’s putting on October 13th in Missoula, it is refreshing to see that it will focus on what changes in the financial sector at the national level will mean for  Montanans, rather than billionaires.

As the Missoulian reports:

The conference will feature a number of national speakers including Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, and author and former New York Times journalist Gary Rivlin.

It’s also nice to see that the conference will also include an in-depth panel on Initiative 164, the ballot initiative we’re voting on this cycle that would limit the interest charged on payday loans to 36 percent.  We see a lot of politicians endorsing the initiative these days, which is good, but Steve Bullock, and to some extent Sen. Tester who is also participating, shows he means it by helping to provide information to consumers beyond the sound bites and the publicity hits we’ve seen from others.

Additional information and online registration are available at www.consumerprotection.mt.gov.