'De-Shrocked' House Seat Is CUs'Target

HAMPTON, Va. - (10/28/04) -- With a last-minute upheaval in thestate's second congressional district, Virginia's credit unionshave thrown their support behind long-time Republican StateDelegate Thelma Drake, a member of the state Assembly's Commerceand Labor Committee, which had jurisdiction over credit unions."She's someone with whom we've had a relationship for some time.She's very much a friend," Alda Wilkinson, chief lobbyist for theVirginia CU League, told The Credit Union Journal. Drake made anentry into the race last month after Gay-bating two-term RepublicanRep. Ed Schrock resigned just 45 days before the election afterrumors surfaced that he had solicited sex with men through a phoneservice. Schrock, elected in 2000 with credit union help torepresent this district heavily populated by the U.S. Navy, was anoutspoken critic of homosexual rights in Congress and ardentopponent of Gay marriage. Drake, a real estate agent, is runningagainst Democrat David Ashe, a former congressional staffer whoserved in the infantry in Iraq last year, for this district heavilyweighted to Republicans.