WASHINGTON—A new study from the National Journal shows that CUNA is ranked No. 1 among financial services associations in Washington when it comes to political advocacy. CUNA was ranked number six among the 44 trade groups in the ranking in terms of advocacy.
“Yes, we came out No. 1 in financial services, and that is because of you,” CUNA CEO Jim Nussle told the Governmental Affairs Conference. “But when we came out sixth overall, we asked what was the difference.”
Nussle said CUNA learned that the top five associations for political advocacy were stronger than CUNA and credit unions at rallying support of the consumers they serve. Nussle emphasized, as he has every year he has spoken at GAC, the importance of rallying support of the CU staff, as well as their leaders, to engage the millions of members nationwide.”
“The study shows your voices do matter, and your members voices matter,” emphasized Nussle.
Nussle emphasized that for the first time many years, credit unions have a chance to effect change in Washington, with the new administration’s focus on dismantling Dodd-Frank and rolling back what has become excessive regulation that does not provide enough exemption for those that did not cause the financial crisis.
Noting that CUNA is “going on offense” this year—along with credit unions and their members— Nussle said, “We have a duty to make difference in Washington this year, turn the clock back to before 2008, when we were not being inundated with regulation.”
Nussle said that can be accomplished by credit unions informing and educating their members as to what has been happening in Washington and how the decisions coming out of D.C. have been impacting their wallets.
Noting that CUNA has launched its Campaign for Common Sense Regulation, Nussle urged attendees to have members share their stories and to help get those stories to Capitol Hill.
“Your members trust you, and they listen to you. But they also are inundated with many other messages from many other organizations—the tweets, the TV commercials. So if you don’t talk to them others will, and they will drive a wedge between you and your members.
“I need you in this fight, because as I said we have a chance in 2017 (to bring regulatory relief to credit unions) like we have never had in many years,” concluded Nussle. “We need to be relevant for years to come. But I am concerned for our future, because others could put us out of existence. This is a rigged system and the banks control a lot of the communication.”