CHICAGO – NCUA Chairman Michael Fryzel offered his congratulations this week to his homestate senator and President-elect Barack Obama, even though Fryzel is a Republican expected to be pushed aside when the Democrat takes office in January.
"The election of Senator Obama as President of the United States was historic and signifies a strong call for change and new, decisive leadership," Fryzel told The Credit Union Journal. "I am extremely pleased that the President-Elect is from my home state of Illinois and look forward with great anticipation in working in his Administration. With Senator Durbin in the Senate leadership and Senator Obama in the White House, the Land of Lincoln could not be prouder".
While Fryzel only began his six-year term at NCUA in three months ago, the Republican is widely expected to be moved from the three-member panel’s chair when Obama and the Democrats move into the White House, as it is customary that a president appoint someone from his own party to head federal agencies like NCUA. Observers say the move of Fryzel is most likely to occur after next April when one of the seats on the NCUA Board, Rodney Hood’s, opens up and Hood’s successor would be named Chairman.
But Fryzel indicated in an interview last month that may not happen, if the new president wants to maintain continuity in the federal government, especially among financial regulators, during the ongoing financial crisis. "That may, or may not be the case," said the new NCUA Chairman.
His case could benefit from contacts Fryzel, the former director of the Illinois Department of Financial Institutions, may have with other politicians from Illinois, Democrats or Republicans.
