CUNA Steps Up With CampaignFunding

WASHINGTON - (10/21/05) -- CUNA said its political actioncommittee, which has become the third most fertile among Washingtontrade associations, had its busiest month of year in September,with 98 campaign contributions for $170,000. The leading creditunion PAC continued to target influential leaders of the House andSenate with four more contributions of $1,000 each to so-calledleadership PACs: The Hawkeye PAC (Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa,chairman of the Senate Budget Committee); Searchlight LeadershipFund (Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.); United Our StatesPAC (Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del.) And Alliance for the West (Sen.Larry Craig, R-Idaho). The biggest contributions last month wentto: Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio ($9,000); Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.V.($5,000)); Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. ($5,000); Rep. BernardSanders, Independent-Vt., running for the Senate ($4,500); Rep.Brad Sherman D-Calif. ($4,000); Rep. Joseph Baca, D-Calif.($4,000); and Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Ct. ($4,000). Also gettingcampaign contributions from the credit union PAC were the followingcandidates running for open seats: Peter Roskam, R-Ill. ($5,000);John Campbell, R-Calif.($5,000); Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind. ($5,000);Mike Sodrel, R-Ind. ($3,500); John Gard, R-Wis.($3,000).