WILKES BARRE, Penn.-Dozens of credit union volunteers fanned out days before last week's elections across Pennsylvania's 11th House district to knock on the doors of voters, many of whom had received mailings in the previous days touting 12-term incumbent Rep. Paul Kanjorski in one of the tightest races of his political career.
With the help of the credit union support, Kanjorski, the congressional credit union champion, held on to win a 13th term by 52%-to-48%, one of several key races credit unions played critical roles in last week.
The volunteers, who manned phone banks and knocked on doors on the CURIA sponsor's behalf, as well as the mailings to 24,000 voters, "were important in a tight race like that," said Jim McCormack, president of the Pennsylvania CU Association, which coordinated the effort for Kanjorski. Kanjorski won by about 10,000 votes over Republican Lou Barletta, a national figure in the effort to rein in illegal immigration.
"We were very concerned up until the last couple of days in that race," said McCormack. "You'd have to say we played a significant role in that race."
The credit union difference was in evidence elsewhere around the country. In Minnesota, credit union volunteers turned out to campaign for Republican State Rep. Erik Paulsen, who beat Democratic local businessman Ashwin Madia, who had floated a plan during the campaign to repeal the CU tax exemption in order to help finance national healthcare for small businesses.
In Kansas, CUNA spent almost $200,000 on TV and radio ads touting Republican State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins in her victory over incumbent Democratic Rep. Nancy Boyda, an opponent of the CU Regulatory Improvements Act (CURIA).
In Pennsylvania, several credit unions helped Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper defeat seven-term incumbent Republican Phil English.
Some Key Allies Lost
CUNA, which spent more than $4 million on the elections, contributed $270,000 in 35 open House and Senate races, with 27 of its candidates winning elections last week, and two undecided at press time, adding to the roster of potential credit union allies in the 111th Congress.
But CUNA also lost some key allies last week, several of them cosponsors of CURIA, which has become the litmus test for credit union support. They include: Republicans Joe Knollenberg and Tim Walberg of Michigan, Jon Porter of Nevada, Steve Chabot of Ohio; Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado and Ric Keller of Florida, as well as two CURIA supporters who left their House seats to run for the Senate, Tom Allen (D-ME) and Steve Pearce (R-NM).
Another big investment by CUNA, almost $200,000 in ads and mailings on behalf of Democrat Judy Baker in Missouri, went for naught when the state rep. lost her seat to Republican banker Blaine Leutkemeyer.
Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, one of a handful of sponsors of a Senate version of CURIA, narrowly held on to win a third term last week. And Democratic Rep. Mark Udall, another CURIA sponsor in the House, won the race for the open Senate seat in Colorado.
"Overall, from a credit union and league standpoint it was a good day," said Richard Gose, political director for CUNA, who has built CUNA's political action committee into one of the most active in Washington.
Gose emphasized that CUNA, which participated in 359 of the 435 House races, is non-partisan and chooses which candidates to support solely based on their stance on credit union issues.
"There were a number of races we were concerned about," said Gose, citing Kanjorski, Porter, Knollenberg and Chabot. The most important, he said, was Kanjorski, who was the chief sponsor of HR 1151, the landmark bill known as the CU Membership Access Act, as well as CURIA. "A race, I think many were calling for his defeat before the first vote was ever cast," he said, alluding to polls showing the Pennsylvania Democrat trailing his opponent up until two weeks before the election.
"Kanjorski's win was huge," said Fred Becker, president of NAFCU, which organized volunteers and helped raise campaign funds for the credit union champion. "It's great to have him coming back so we don't have to start all over again with someone else. He's taken a leadership role in many of our bills and he's been a strong advocate for our legislation."
Credit unions poured almost $7 million into this year's elections, topping the previous high by almost $1 million.
Many CU PACs Hit New Highs
By far the most money was contributed by CUNA and its political action committee, which raised almost $4 million and spent about as much for the two-year election cycle, according to records submitted to the Federal Election Commission.
But several other entities set new highs, including NAFCU, which contributed more than $400,000; the Michigan CU League, which contributed a similar amount; and the Pennsylvania CU Association, which spent $200,000, including $57,000 on independent mailings in the final weeks to help push Kanjorski over the top.
More than 20 credit unions also contributed campaigns through their own PACs, including Coastal FCU, Wescom CU, SchoolsFirst FCU, California Coast CU, Philadelphia FCU, Affinity FCU and Arrowhead CU, as well as the corporates U.S. Central FCU and WesCorp FCU.
In addition dozens of credit union executives made contributions to individual campaigns separate of campaign PACs, the FEC records show.
