Community CU Conversion Advocates Urge NoChange In State Rules

FARMERS BRANCH, Texas - (08/31/05) -- A group of individuals helping toconvert two Texas credit union giants to mutual savings banks askedstate regulators Tuesday not to listen to the 'thought police' fromout of state when deciding whether to make it tougher for creditunions to switch charters. "I told them 'if it ain't broke, don'tfix it,'" Robert Freedman, a Washington attorney who has engineeredmost of the 35 credit union-to-bank conversions, told The CreditUnion Journal, of his testimony during the second of two days ofhearings held by the Texas CU Department. Freedman, who wasrepresenting both his firm, Silver, Freedman & Taff, and theTexas Savings & Community Bankers Association, urged the stateregulator to reject efforts by out of state interests, like N.C.State Employees CU and Self-Help CU, that financed the oppositionto the ongoing conversions of Community CU and OmniAmerican CU, totoughen rules on conversions. Also testifying during Tuesday'shearing at the Texas CU League's offices were James Pledger, formerTexas Savings and Loan Commissioner and now an executive with Cuero(Texas) State Bank, and a representative of the Independent BankersAssociation of Texas, which is supporting efforts to ease the wayfor more credit union conversions to thrifts.