Remember Rodney Hood?
No, not Rodney Hood the NBA guard who averaged almost 15 points a game for the Cleveland Cavaliers last season.
And not his son, Rodney, Jr., born in 2016.
I mean Rodney Hood, the former and maybe future member of the NCUA board.
You may be excused if you don’t remember that Rodney Hood. President Trump nominated that Rodney Hood in June to serve as a member of the agency board.
Since then, there’s been radio silence. And it could stay that way for quite some time.
The Hood nomination is likely to be put off until Trump chooses a Democrat for the third vacancy on the board. That way, the Senate will be able to “pair” the nominations – easing the way for their confirmations.
Only then will Hood, and whoever the Democrat turns out to be, get a confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee and a floor vote.
Democrats are likely to fight a sooner consideration of the Hood nomination, since that would leave two Republicans – Hood and Board Chairman J. Mark McWatters – as the members of the board.
The clock is ticking on the Hood nomination. It expires at the end of the year – the competition of the current Congress.
Then, Trump would have to renominate him or someone else, or two other people next year.
Meanwhile, the board has been operating with only two members for more than two years. Granted, McWatters and Metsger keep saying they are getting along swimmingly, and things are getting done. And let’s face it, compared to the U.S. Supreme Court or the Attorney General, the credit union administration is probably considered somewhat small potatoes, but the question remains: Is this any way to run a government?
Gift That Keeps on Giving
In case you’ve been living in a cave and haven’t turned on cable news in the past three months, here’s an announcement: There’s an election this year.
In this mid-term election, the entire House of Representatives and 33 Senate seats are up.
The credit union trade groups have been extremely active so far, according to figures maintained by the Center for Responsive Politics.
As of the end of July, CUNA’s political action committee, CULAC, has contributed almost $2.1 million to federal candidates. As it has in the past, CULAC has given 53% of its contributions to Republicans and 47% to Democrats.
CULAC is the fifth most generous political action committee so far during this election cycle, the Center reported. In comparison, the American Bankers Association is the 10th most generous committee.
But the ABA committee is much more partisan than the credit union committees. The Center reported the ABA committee contributed 75% of its money to Republicans and 25% to Democrats.
CULAC is on pace to exceed its giving during the 2016 election cycle. During that cycle, CULAC contributed almost $2.4 million to federal candidates.
NAFCU operates a much smaller committee. Its political action committee has contributed almost $161,000 to federal candidates, with 58% going to Republicans and 42% going to Democrats. During the last election cycle, NAFCU’s committee contributed almost $234,000 to federal candidates, with 62% going to Republicans and 37% to Democrats.
The Independent Community Bankers of America also operates a committee, and it had contributed about $913,000 by the end of July, according to the Center. About 65% of its money went to Republicans and 35% to Democrats.
He Won’t Stop
A California man, Robert Chain, was charged last month with making a series of threatening telephone calls to the Boston Globe newspaper.
During the phone calls, Chain threatened to kill Globe employees by shooting them in the head. Investigators found that Chain owned several weapons and had purchased a new rifle in May.
Why do I mention this? Because Chain referred to Globe employees as the “enemy of the people,” a term constantly used by the president of the United States to describe the news media.
And why the Globe? The Globe led a campaign by news organizations across the country to publish editorials defending freedom of the press in the face of Trump’s constant criticism.
Here’s what Chain said during one phone call, according to documents filed in federal court: “As long as you keep attacking the president, the duly elected president of the United States, in the continuation of your treasonous and seditious acts, I will continue to threat, harass and annoy the Boston Globe, owned by the New York Times, the other fake news.”
You would hope that Trump would realize his rhetoric was becoming dangerous and would tone it down.
Not a chance.
Here’s what he tweeted on Aug. 30, after Chain was charged: “I just cannot state strongly enough how totally dishonest much of the Media is. Truth doesn’t matter to them, they only have their hatred & agenda. This includes fake books, which come out about me all the time, always anonymous sources, and are pure fiction. Enemy of the People!”
What is it going to take for Trump to realize that as president of the United States, his words have power?
And that power is going to get someone hurt or killed?
David Baumann is a correspondent-at-large for CU Times. He can be reached at dbaumann@cutimes.com.