VANCOUVER, Wash. – Steve Straub, key supporter of the dissident member group Save CCU and former Columbia CEO, is one of the candidates for the replacement board of the $619 million Columbia Credit Union. If Columbia members vote to recall the eight board members, Straub and the other candidates backed by Save CCU will be eligible to run for those empty seats. This move should put to rest speculation about whether Straub wanted to be Columbia's CEO again, since as a member of the Board Straub would be precluded from working for the CEO. Other Save CCU candidates include Tony Ward-Smith, a noted credit union consultant and fellow organizer of Save CCU; John Bucholtz, a former director with SAFE CU, one of the credit unions that merged with Columbia; Duane Bequette, a former director with Kohler Credit Union in Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Emmy Winterburn, a former payroll officer with the Able Corporation; Richard Perkins, an executive with the Sierra Pacific Power Company; John Cheek, a retired civil engineer with lifetime credit union experience and Ralph Erdmann, an economist with the U.S. Department of Energy's Bonneville Power Station. -

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