LOS ANGELES — With a former credit union executive running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives — plus other races of note — politics will be a bigger issue than usual for CUs in California and Nevada this fall.
The Credit Union Legislative Action Council (CULAC) is conducting an "independent expenditure" (IE) in support of Pete Aguilar, who is in a battle for California's 31st Congressional District. The $150,000 IE will go toward digital advertising and direct mail in support of the former employee at $826 million Arrowhead CU in San Bernardino.
Bob Arnould, SVP of government affairs for the California and Nevada CU Leagues — which are gathering here this week for their Annual Meeting and Convention — said the Aguilar election is a priority. "We have a history of sending credit union champions to Congress, such as Brad Sherman and Ed Royce," Arnould said. "It is good to have champions to sponsor bills and be committee chairmen."
Amerish Babulal "Ami" Bera, who has been the represented California's 7th Congressional District since 2013 is running for re-election in 2014. "Ami Bera is finishing his first term. We supported him in his first race and will continue to support him strongly in his second race," Arnould reported.
"The third race that is high on our radar screen is in Nevada with Dr. Joe Heck [current Representative for Nevada's Third Congressional District]. We are strongly supporting his bid to return to Congress," said Arnould. "He never worked for a credit union or served on a board that I am aware of, but he is a strong supporter of credit unions."
In a two-year cycle the CCUL and NCUL raise and spend more than $1 million for candidates for office in the two states, both state and federal races, Arnould reported. He said the two Leagues are "deeply involved" in grass roots activities in support of candidates, and participate in independent expenditures for key races.
"We have individuals in those communities who are involved in supporting the candidates, including communicating with their memberships," he said.
Nationally, Arnould said the big question is which party will win the Senate. But he noted that issue will not be resolved in California or Nevada as those seats are not up for grabs. "In California there is a governor's race that is not garnering a lot of attention. There will be a lot of time and energy spent getting voters out to the polls to support their candidates because there is no presidential race to draw people out."
According to Arnould, the regulatory picture is brightening just a little bit, thanks to lawmakers realizing CUs are taking unintended hits.
"It seems to me Congress is finally beginning to see that in going after the bad guys who caused the Great Recession they have inflicted a great deal of harm on small financial institutions. It is our hope they will begin to roll back some of those regulations. We do not expect anything in 2014, but Congress has already begun to make noise about looking at regulatory relief for credit unions and perhaps community banks in 2015."
When it comes to regulations, "Things move in cycles," Arnould noted. "There was the initial reaction to the recession, but now people see that reaction was unnecessarily harsh on smaller financial institutions."
