I didn't watch the proceedings of the 30-year anniversary hearing of the Community Reinvestment Act, but stories recounted to me were mixed with regard to credit unions' treatment. With no credit union witnesses on any of the panels, the banking trades and even the Connecticut regulator were free to suggest that credit unions should be subject to CRA at the federal level.

True, most credit unions don't have direct experience with CRA, but the opportunity for the bankers was obvious; a credit union representative should have been there to make the case that the credit unions are already doing more for their members than the banks do under CRA. And, if the hearing was intended to be truly commemorative in nature, it should have been kept on point. If credit unions weren't testifying because they had no experience with CRA, then their lack of CRA coverage should not have become a recurring topic of discussion at what was meant to be a "look back" over the years.

Every week, we receive dozens upon dozens of news releases and calls touting credit unions' good deeds, more than one even from the same credit union. That tells me that credit unions are doing a lot of work for their communities and working to get their message out. Others still need to work on accepting their bragging rights and putting them to work for themselves and the credit union community as a whole. This is the type of public relations work all credit unions should be doing all the time to help prevent situations like the CRA hearing. When credit unions effectively get their message out, everyone will be aware of credit unions' good deeds.