WASHINGTON-Credit union trade groups have again reached out to Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich after the former Speaker for the second time likened Freddie Mac to "other GSEs like credit unions" during a nationally televised debate.
Besides being inaccurate, the credit union concern is in being incorrectly lumped in with the likes of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which have been the subject of much negative press.
"As has been pointed out by Politifact and John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute-among others-credit unions clearly are not government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), as suggested by Speaker Gingrich in the recent debate," said CUNA EVP John Magill. "We don't sense any effort to impugn credit unions-after all, Speaker Gingrich was pivotal to credit union efforts in enacting the Credit Union Membership Access Act of 1998."
In fact, analysts say Gingrich's strategy isn't to besmirch credit unions, but instead to use their White Hat reputation as a way to put a shine on his own connection to Freddie Mac.
"However, we understand that the heat of a campaign-and the intense pressure of a nationally televised debate-can lead to a candidate using some rhetorical shorthand to make an overarching point. But, the fact remains, credit unions are not GSEs, in any sort of interpretation," Magill said.
