Editor’s Note: 2017 marks the 20-year anniversary of a two-year battle in Congress to get the Credit Union Membership Act not just introduced, but passed. It was a historic fight that led to a historic change for America’s credit unions, which were deeply threatened by banker lawsuits and court decisions that had gone against FCUs and how NCUA had interpreted field of membership rules.
To mark the 20th anniversary, CUToday.info has launched a series of stories in which those close to that fight share their recollections of the time and their insights into how it changed credit unions.
By Ray Birch
PLANO, Texas—It was a time that now, 20 years later, Terry Young recalls as something special to experience.
It was a time of real grassroots lobbying for credit unions suddenly fearful over their futures. It was a time of long days. And it was a time to “Stand Tall.”
Those two years, 1997 and 1998, were a time that Young, then VP of corporate communications at the Texas CU League, recalls exhilarating for everyone involved.
“All across the country there was a moment of unity and clarity, and the movement was really moving,” said Young, now VP of communications and marketing at Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union here. He recalled that the good work being done in Texas at the time was mirrored across the country. “Our effort was just one of many.”
Those days had Young on a “PR high.”
“We were rockin’ and rollin’ and hitting on all cylinders,” recalled Young about the effort to not only sway Congress via lobbying efforts but to generate support from CUs and members. “While it was always up to Congress to decide on this bill, I felt you could not do any more to excite and influence members of Congress than what we were doing.”
Across Texas
Across the breadth of Texas, Young pointed to the coordinated letter writing campaigns that “bombarded” Washington with well-timed messages.
“We had letter writing stations at credit unions across Texas,” said Young. “We had stamped envelopes ready to go. With those letters we’d attach newspaper editorials supporting the need for credit unions to extend their common bond.”
Those grassroots efforts, said Young looking back, gave the state’s lobbying team all the ammunition they needed.
“And we just kept it coming. I think Congress felt like they were getting doused by a firehose.”
Just how much that grassroots effort led to the Senate finally passing HR 1151 can only be known by those within Congress at the time, emphasized Young.
“But I know they felt the voice of credit unions—they felt our passion. There was a lot of passion then around protecting the movement and helping it move forward through this common bond extension,” said Young. “We had the professional lobbying efforts and the grassroots campaign. We were punching with both arms, and Congress felt that.”
All that punching was no easy feat for the then Texas Credit Union League or its affiliated CUs spread across the 262,000 square miles of the Lone Star State. It made for many long days of seeking support for the Credit Union Membership Access Act.
“I remember we chartered a jet one February morning in 1997. We left Dallas at 6 a.m. and flew to Houston to pick up a bunch credit union people,” said Young. “We had a plane full of Texans and we flew into D.C. for a quick rally and then flew back that night. But that’s what you did then.”
Shot In The Arm
Young said the league’s three-person lobbying and communications team received a shot in the arm from the Allyn Company, a Dallas-based political PR firm.
“They gave us a lot of great support.”
When the Supreme Court issued a ruling in February 1998 that favored the banking industry’s interpretation of the Federal Credit Union Act–that FCUs may not consist of more than one occupational group having a single common bond–he said the league, while always hopeful, was prepared for the decision to go against credit unions.
“While that was not a good outcome for us, it did allow us to launch our ‘Stand Tall for Texas’ campaign,” said Young about the massive effort to drive support for HR 1151 using that theme. “We already had in place our plan of action in case the Supreme Court ruling did not go our way. In fact we had a press release ready to go the day of the decision.”
Moving Fast
Young recalled just how quickly the league moved, recounting how the TCUL approached the Houston Chronicle about a story being written on the Supreme Court decision that at first appeared to cast a negative light on CUs.
“But we met with the newspaper, and by the time we were done we had a pro credit union article that appeared in that paper,” he said.
The meeting with the Houston Chronicle was hardly a one-off. Young and the league worked closely with media across Texas in markets of all sizes.
“We spent a lot of time talking with the media and organized a 20-city tour from January through February in 1998,” said Young. “In every one of the cities we set up meetings with newspaper’s editorial boards, arranged TV and radio interviews, all talking about the credit union movement and the need to have the choice, a common bond.”
During each city visit, the team would meet with local officials, as well.
“We formed the FACTS Committee,” said Young. “That was short for Financial Alternatives for Consumers in Today’s Society. That committee was fully engaged with all of those supporting our cause across the state of Texas. We’d get on a conference call once a week with everyone to talk about our progress.”
The league also held Town Hall meetings during its statewide tour.
“I think Dick Ensweiler (then president of the Texas League, which is now the Cornerstone CU League) spoke at just about all of them,” recalled Young.
Young said that some of the important results of that tour was getting a lot of editorials supporting the CU position published in newspapers.
“I recall us getting 15 editorials placed within a four-week period,” said Young. “We took all those clips, put them together, and shipped them out to other newspapers. We took those successes, kept using them and building on them. We were a machine.”
'Machine' Not Stopping
But that machine did not stop when HR 1151 was passed by the House in a landslide vote. Young said when he heard the good news he was already working on the campaign’s next phase.
“I remember that at some point during the lead up to the Senate vote we began to feel like we were going to win,” said Young. “So we thought, what would we do next?”
Prepared with plans for any Senate vote outcome, the next phase of the effort after President Bill Clinton signed the legislation on Aug. 7, 1998, was to do things that would continue the positive momentum for credit unions in Washington.
“We felt we needed to do that because we believed that the bankers would not go quietly into the night,” said Young. “While they were not silent, surprisingly they never counterpunched (on HR 1151) as we thought they would.”