Former House Banking Committee Chairman and staunch credit union supporter Jim Leach folded his hand last week when a strong campaign by the Internet gambling interests turned him out of office. The 64-year-old Leach served 30 years in Congress and chaired what was then known as the House Banking Committee during HR 1151, the 1998 CU Membership Access Act. Leach shepherded the bill through his committee while assuring the millions of credit union members that Congress would not pass any bill that would disenfranchise them.
"He had a hands-on involvement in negotiations over what would be included in HR 1151," Bill Donovan, who was chief lobbyist for NAFCU at the time, recalled to The Credit Union Journal yesterday. "He was at the table for many hours, day after day, and deeply involved as to what was going to be included in the bill." But Leach was defeated by a combination of Internet gambling backers, angry at Leach bill that became law banning Internet gambling, and the Democratic tide. He was defeated by Democrat David Loebsack, a political science professor at Cornell College, by 51.5% to 48.5%.
