TOPEKA, Kan. – In an unusual show of political muscle, CUNA is putting an inordinately large amount of resources behind Republican Lynn Jenkins in her effort to unseat freshman Democrat Rep. Nancy Boyda.
It was Boyda’s support for the bankers’ efforts to quash the CU Regulatory Improvements Act, or CURIA, that induced CUNA to take the gamble to unseat a House incumbent. After all, incumbents in the House win almost 98% of the time--even if Boyda only won her district last time with 51% of the vote.
"Quite frankly, up to that point we weren’t looking at doing anything at all," said Jerel Wright, chief lobbyist for the Kansas CU Association, of Boyda’s ill-timed communications to voters, many of them credit union members, about her support for the bankers’ opposition to CURIA. Boyda’s communications came just before regulatory relief bill with CURIA provisions in it was supposed to come to a vote.
In the past few weeks, CUNA has poured increasing amounts of resources into the race on behalf of Jenkins, the state Treasurer and a former state rep. That includes almost $130,000 on radio and tv ads boosting Jenkins–independently of the Jenkins campaign--as well as $10,000 in PAC contributions.
Wright said the state’s credit unions have a long history with Jenkins, who has given them access to schools around the state for financial literacy courses. The Treasurer’s office has also helped sponsor a series of financial literacy courses for youth with credit unions, known as Money $mart Camps. And Jenkins is on record as supporting the credit union tax exemption.
"I don’t know if it’s really campaigning against Nancy Boyda, as it is campaigning for Lynn Jenkins," Wright told The Credit Union Journal Friday.
"Our support for her is based on her support for credit unions," said Wright. "She has been very, very helpful in the past in working with different schools. Financial literacy is a big part of what credit unions do. Unfortunately, Nancy Boyda has not been a significant supporter of credit unions. She has not been where she needs to be."
