CUNA SeeksCoalition-Building

BOSTON - (07/30/04) – The national conventions arealways about building agendas and seeking out new partners. It wasno different for CUNA this week, which met with representatives ofseveral coalitions that are of growing importance to the creditunion lobby, including the Hispanic congressional caucus, theAfrican-American caucus and a new group, dubbing itself theChildren’s Caucus. CUNA lobbyist Gary Kohn, said CUNA seessome opportunities with this new Congressional group through issuesof joint interest, like financial literacy and CUNA’s latestproject. Child identification to help thwart child abductions. Kohnand Michigan CU League lobbyist Patrick LaPine also met withMichigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a key player in the DemocraticGovernors’ Association, another group credit unions aretrying to court. “It’s a huge networkingopportunity,’ Kohn told The Credit Union Journal, of hismeetings at the Democratic National Convention with the differentinterest groups that share some of credit union concerns.“This is an opportunity set things up when we get back toWashington,” he said. CUNA and its representatives also spentsome time meeting with the New Democratic Network, a group ofpro-business House and Senate members working to strengthen theDemocrats’ relationships with the businesscommunity.