WASHINGTON – Credit unions are ramping up their political efforts in the 2016 presidential race, seizing a window of opportunity to ride a wave of anti-Wall Street rhetoric and driven by a vital need for regulatory relief.
"Candidates on both sides of the aisle are increasingly pointing out some of the shortfalls in the traditional Wall Street banking model and we think credit unions…offer a real very valuable alternative," said Trey Hawkins, vice president of political affairs at CUNA.
Credit union officials have always been politically active, in part to defend their federal tax exemption and ensure lawmakers are informed about topics important to the industry.
"I would say this is an earlier, stronger push on issues that really fit with us," said Richard Gose, CUNA's chief political officer.
A Long Tradition
But credit unions have traditionally stayed out of presidential politics in terms of political donations, saving their campaign dollars for members of Congress. That trend is continuing this year, but credit unions are finding alternate ways to engage with candidates.
CUNA and the NAFCU have been more active in encouraging credit union members to reach out to candidates while maintaining their policy of not contributing directly to candidates. A big way in which that has happened is through social media.
"One thing that is particularly new about [the 2016 elections] that we try and take advantage of is the impact of social media," Hawkins said, noting that Twitter was not nearly as popular in 2008 while it is nearly ubiquitous today. "It is a very public forum and our hope is that credit union members engage the campaigns on Twitter."
Dan O'Brien, director of political affairs at NAFCU, said Twitter is particularly effective because "we are able to have real-time conversations and push out information" to our members.
O'Brien noted that there are other social media platforms such as Linkedin where members read about the issues and Snapchat "where a lot of the candidates have gone" are also playing a bigger role.
Tapping Into Middle Class
One effort that stands out is a CUNA website at
"We do not endorse or contribute to presidential candidates, however we have over 100 million members that do have a stake in the outcome of this election," said Gose. "What we have done is try to create a site where they can engage with the presidential candidates and talk about the importance of credit unions and especially how it pertains to the middle class."
David Klavitter, senior vice president of marketing and public relations at the $1.3 billion, 90,000-member Dupaco Community Credit Union in Dubuque, Iowa echoed that message.
"All the candidates talk about ways to move forward and ways to help working families and the middle class to move forward," he said. "We feel credit unions are an important part of that equation and we want to make sure that everybody understands that and embraces that."
Credit unions may also feel that there is more at stake this time around as the regulatory environment has become more challenging.
"The need for real [regulatory] relief, measurable relief is also driving credit union's efforts to engage in the political process," said Mary Dunn, an attorney at CU Counsel, PLLC and former deputy chief counsel at CUNA.
But John McKechnie, a senior partner at the public advocacy consulting firm Total Spectrum and a former director of public and congressional affairs at NCUA, said credit unions have come to understand the importance of advocacy in elections.
"Credit unions have shown a growing appreciation for the need for political involvement since the early 90s," he said. "I do believe that credit unions need to maintain or even build upon what they have done because the bankers certainly are."
He said credit unions can help differentiate themselves from banks and other financial institutions by emphasizing the size of their membership.
"When you talk to a member of Congress or their staff and you mention how many credit union members there are in their congressional district or in their state, I think that is an immediate attention getter on Capitol Hill," McKechnie said.
But presidential politics remains something relatively new, for good reason. Geoff Bacino, a partner at government relations firm Bacino & Associates said "it is a little bit more of a gamble" with a presidential race.
"If you guess wrong in a Senate race, the historical thing to do is you try and make it up to the guy you didn't support, and frankly you have got 99 other senators and you have 434 other Congress members, but there is only one president," he said.
