In February of 1998, less than 24 hours after the Supreme Court Ruled against NCUA's decision to allow credit union to serve multiple common bonds, then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich signed on as a co-sponsor to HR 1151, the Credit Union Membership Access Act. Within weeks, the bill was passed out of the House Financial Services Committee, and no more than a month after that, the House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 411-8. And just months later in July, that same bill passed the Senate by a vote of 92-6. That August, President Clinton signed it into law.
No Idle Walk Down Memory Lane
Why the little history lesson? Because that's when credit unions first became known as a force to be reckoned with on Capitol Hill. Rare is the bill that captures not just bipartisan support but such sweeping support as to be nearly unanimous. Rare is the bill that moves through the process in months, not years. Rare is the "special interest group" that can issue a call to arms to its "grassroots" with the result being a flood of calls, letters and emails to lawmakers so deep, that one Capitol Hill staffer said to me at the time: "Please tell the credit unions to call off the dogs already!"
In an era of gridlock, where a final vote tally can easily be predicted merely by knowing how many Democrats and how many Republicans are voting and bills pass by only the slimmest of margins (when they get passed at all) and often only after years of debate, it's hard to imagine a bill passing by such overwhelming majorities as 411-8 and 92-6.
It's been 17 years since HR 1151 catapulted the credit union lobby into the limelight — just long enough for some to forget that those few short months leading up to the bill becoming law were anything but halcyon. They were frantic and frenetic, with much behind-the-scenes horse trading and last-minute wheeling and dealing.
And it all happened just before a mid-term election. Funny thing about those mid-term elections: it can be awfully tough to get people as fired up about them as when the presidency is on the line. Voter turnout is not likely to skyrocket.
With most of the primaries over, America is heading into primetime election season. In this issue, Credit Union Journal kicks off a series of profiles of credit union executives and board members who are now running for Congress, and one who has already served in Congress and is now in a gubernatorial race.
Getting people with strong credit union ties into office will be a coup for the credit union lobby. To make that happen, however, credit unions will need to activate those famouse grassroots. And that will be no mean feat this year.
Some might say it's hard enough finding nine people with a credit union background to run for office — and they'd be right. But it will be harder still to stir the blood of the much-vaunted 100 million members out there.
But getting people involved in the process — from simply voting for a candidate to donating to a political action committee, from writing letters to members of Congress to running for Congress — has become all the more important as credit unions struggle under an ever-growing pile of rules and regulations.
What Elections Mean To CUs
As part of our series profiling the nine credit union executives and directors who are running for office, Credit Union Journal turned to political experts to discuss what this year's elections could mean for credit unions. It goes well beyond whether credit union support can help get these nine candidates into office. It goes beyond the machinations that will be sparked if the balance of power in either of the two chambers swings the other way.
Many voters will not bother to head to the polls this year, but credit unions cannot afford to be any less diligent — and vigilant — in the political arena today as they were more than 17 years ago. Because History Lesson No. 1 has always been: history repeats itself.
Managing Editor Lisa Freeman can be reached at
