The churning debate on the form, methods and cost of conveying the industry's advocacy message through the state league network undergoes more scrutiny this week as yet another group of leagues tie the knot this Friday to officially organize the Denver-based Mountain West Credit Union Association.

In this case, it is Colorado, Arizona and Wyoming, which after nearly a year of study, will  centralize and combine their processing, education, compliance and personnel functions into a single operation. It is  leaving small teams to lobby in non-headquarter state capitols.

But the regionalization approach to a trade structure has come in for new levels of concern and criticism this summer from a wide spectrum of industry leaders. Some have complained that  that relocation of league offices diminishes the CU profile and voice at the state level.