WASHINGTON - After a five-month wait, NCUA nominee Michael Fryzel will finally get a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee this week, but observers continue to doubt whether the Republican appointee will ever be voted by the full Democratically controlled Senate.
“A hearing is not a vote,” said one credit union lobbyist, who did not want to be identified because he would be working with Fryzel if he is finally confirmed by the Senate.
“Unlikely,” is how another credit union lobbyist who covers Congress put it.
The lobbyists were mindful of the Democratic leadership in the Senate, which is loathe to approve any Republican nominations this close to the end of the Bush administration, as they hope a Democrat will win the White House and thus, nominate federal appointees.
In the case of NCUA, for example, the confirmation of the Republican for a six-year term would retain a two-to-one GOP majority on the three-person NCUA Board. A Democratic president could move Fryzel from the chairman’s seat and appoint his or her own chair, but only when one of the other two seats open up.
The other two members of the panel are Rodney Hood, a Republican, and Gigi Hyland, a Democrat.
Still, this week’s hearing is a step further for the nomination, which must generally be endorsed by the banking panel before it is sent on for the necessary approval by the full Senate. The full Senate sometimes votes on nominees that have not been endorsed by a committee, but rarely.
The credit union trade associations expressed hope the Senate will ultimately vote on the Fryzel nomination. “We look forward to the hearing and to his confirmation,” said NAFCU President Fred Becker, who met with Fryzel after his nomination last December. “In the interim, we look forward to continuing our work with NCUA under the current leadership of Chairman Johnson to ensure a positive regulatory environment for credit unions.”
Fryzel, who would succeed Republican JoAnn Johnson as chairman of the NCUA Board, is one of the most qualified candidates to be nominated for the board. He is a protégé of former NCUA Chairman Ed Callahan and worked under Callahan at the Illinois Department of Financial Institutions, before succeeding him as director of the state credit union and bank regulatory agency in 1982 when Callahan moved to Washington to head NCUA.
Since then, Fryzel, a partner in the Chicago firm of Kane, Obbish, Propes & Garippo, has represented CUs and served on the state CU Advisory Board for the past 17 years. He also was in the running for the NCUA Board seat eventually given to Hood four years ago.
Johnson’s six-year term on the NCUA Board expired last August and she has been serving as a so-called holdover since then, while the work on her successor proceeds.
Johnson, who was an Iowa state senator and chair of the state’s Bush/Cheney campaign, was appointed to the NCUA Board by President Bush in 2002 and designated chairman in 2004. (c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
