ST. LOUIS – Against a backdrop of bank attacks, conversions and ballooning government deficits, state credit union leagues in 2006 seem to be attaching new urgency and missionary zeal to those advocacy and awareness campaigns. “It's not as though we've ever changed our basic advocacy mission as trade organizations, but I think it's all become a lot more visible because we've had no choice but to confront the challenges,” said Rosie Holub, vice chairman of the American Association of Credit Union Leagues. Those challenges – and the financial means as well as the manpower to meet them – at times can appear daunting, maintains Holub, who is also president/CEO of the Missouri Credit Union Association. “Do you realize that the banker suits on field of membership in Missouri began in 2001 and we're still at it in 2006?” lamented Holub, who like other league managers, has sought to generate a heightened sense of alarm among member CUs about the need for greater political action and involvement. Depending on the league and what it sees as economically feasible, that action has taken the form of focused, but sometimes limited media advertising touting the “credit union difference,” the basic “people helping people” message, or some variation. But in Texas, as in Missouri, the Texas Credit Union League has shunned the major ad blitz on radio or TV, preferring instead to concentrate heavily on creating close ties with lawmakers in Austin and with the congressional delegation. “We have 20 media markets in Texas where the TV ads go for $1 million each so you can see it wouldn't take more than a month to spend all of our members' dues if we went that route,” explained Buddy Gill, the league's senior vice president of advocacy. Gill, a former CUNA consultant and architect of the successful H.R.1151 campaign in 1998, advocates CU managers and paid lobbyists concentrate on “knowing the personal profiles” of lawmakers and tapping into voluntary “war chests” of funds set up by the league. Those funds can help promote in-person visits by CU executives to lawmakers in home districts, for example. Moreover, “we keep the funds ready to be spent on commissioning white papers or supporting all of the functions in government that benefit credit unions,” he said. “If Gov. Perry needs help to underwrite a business summit,” said Gill, “or we have to send somebody to a task force on business loans, we want to be there (with funds),” he said. Proof that the Texas Credit Union League program is bringing results, says officials, is in the overwhelming CU support in signed statements by 80% of the state's congressional delegation. In addition, both Gov. Rick Perry and the state's lieutenant governor, plus its two senator's have also penned letters supporting CUs. Though the banker attacks have been less severe in Texas than in other states, “we are building that firewall,” said Gill. Meanwhile, in Missouri the MCUA said it has been emphasizing increased member contacts with lawmakers in Jefferson City while at the same time assisting small and medium size CUs with documenting community achievements in a kind of public relations blitz never tried before. “You know we were the first state league to have a `credit union house' opened in 2003, located a block and a half from the capitol building. Let me tell you, we've had wonderful reception from lawmakers,” said Holub. Copying the Missouri formula, the Oklahoma CU League is making plans to open a CU House in Oklahoma City this year patterned after CUNA's Washington facility and the Missouri building. A Home For Advocacy The Missouri CU House, formally called the “Home of Missouri Credit Unions” serves as an education center for the public on what CUs are all about, said Holub, noting also the center has been frequently used for lawmaker receptions and goodwill visits. Freshmen lawmakers recently began holding their caucuses and were given a tour of an upstairs room containing video displays and tech equipment showing CU accomplishments. As part of the PR campaign, in November MCUA hired Fleishman Hillard, a national PR firm with offices in St. Louis, to assist member CUs on writing press releases, placing stories and dealing with the media. “The Fleishman Hillard contract is good and we'll take advantage of it though it is really aimed not for us but for the smaller credit union that needs that kind of help. I'd say we've got a long way to go in building public awareness of what credit unions do and what we stand for,” observed Eric Acree, executive vice president of the $470 million Vantage CU. “We have to toot our horns much more than we have,” said Acree. Underscoring the pumped up advocacy pitch among state leagues, the Colorado/Wyoming League announced earlier this month the creation of a new position, manager of grassroots advocacy, and hired Christopher Kemm, a Denver AFL-CIO vice president, to fill it. “I think I read that title somewhere in a credit union publication and I liked the message and decided to use it in Colorado and Wyoming,” said Peter Kirchhof, the league's senior vice president of government affairs. And the Arizona League said it recently added “advocacy” to the job descriptions of top managers as a way of emphasizing the function. Lisa Finley, president/CEO of the Oklahoma League in Tulsa, said the industry's advocacy push is a direct outgrowth of banker attacks but other factors come into play, including “a realization that we have to define ourselves and not let others do it for us.” Congress has “put questions to us” that the industry is trying to answer and there are continuing concerns about huge deficits in state and federal government that pose potential crises for credit unions as they try to maintain the tax-exemption, said Finley. CUNA's Part In aiding the leagues, CUNA has been working on taking over some of the education burden thereby allowing leagues to free up staff for advocacy work. The first full-blown education “partnership” began operating in January with the Ohio League by which CUNA handles curriculum preparation, marketing, training and registration functions. CUNA said it hopes to interest other leagues in this kind of arrangement. “CUNA has become the back office for Ohio education under the program,” said Jill Tomlin, CUNA senior vice president. The partnership “takes advantage of economies of scale” and is aimed at eliminating duplication and marketplace confusion, said Tomlin. The Maryland/D.C. CU Association said the CUNA education package, though not run on the same scale as Ohio, is also giving advocacy a boost through a burst in attendance at the all-day education sessions. “Do you know we had an evening session for boards of directors in which we had 50 attendees?” said Mike Beall, president/CEO. “It's been tremendous.” The Alabama League, which pioneered the CUNA plan three years ago, said it too can now divert resources to advocacy since the education department “is now self-supporting” and no longer relies on dues as a result of CUNA support. In the meantime, talk continues among CEOs about developing broader advocacy campaigns on a national scale. Bill Cheney, the Xerox FCU CEO who takes over this week as president of the California/Nevada CU Leagues, said he expects to bring up the idea of a stepped up national campaign in meetings of the American Association of Credit Union Leagues when he joins the group. “Whether something can be done remains to be seen,” said Cheney but the industry interest in the California/Nevada advocacy experiment of mandatory dues to pay for radio ads remains high. -

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