The Next NCUA Board Member Will Probably Be Cut from the Same Cloth

On 3/28 Chip Filson pushed this to our marketplace. Did you read it? Did you yawn, and then delete it? Or did you think about it and act on it? I can think of a few things to do with this posting:

• Send it to my board and declare that the future based on these new board members will probably be a lot more of the same – they are cut from known cloth with known track records, and with no new things in sight.
• I would then send it to everyone I know that might have some influence over this process and say I hope McWatters’ replacement is at least a small if not major course adjustment.
• I would drop every contribution to the political side of our industry—there are no lobbies that really are as upset as our members are with these leaders—until they decided to do something about the way we assign NCUA board members. I would follow that up by pushing for future administrations to actually have a plan or project for these seat warmers to lead on, if they can lead. Board members are supposed to push for something other than bureaucratic constants.
• I would then study board members that get appointed to the agencies that lead our competitors and consider the fact that we do not get the same draft picks for our hopes and dreams. Another thing to point out as we think about our political contributions and support lent to others. Have you read the writings or speeches made by Chairman Jelena McWilliams? Wow.
• And finally, I would send all politicians a message: My Organization Has Left the Building – savings its money to survive the political system’s wake washing up my strategies and hope I have enough saved to avoid being washed away by their actions. Because based on the history that Chip lays out here, there are no players coming to the NCUA that are worth the money to stay engaged.

You might say, Randy hold on here, we can’t change anything by quitting, we need to influence the game. To that I say we have to REVOLT against the current game, and since so many of us just do not know how to really get our politicians’ attention that might be a sucker’s bet. I have no kingdom to offer in exchange for a solution here, just my hope. Chip gets me thinking…..