Some NAFCU attendees will be put in the Congressional hot seat

HONOLULU - Whether it's the lack of bankruptcy reform legislation or laws curbing predatory lending, credit union people are often befuddled by the actions, or non-actions, of Congress. But do they really know what pressures and political forces members of Congress have to deal with? Some attendees of NAFCU's Annual Conference & Exhibition will soon find out what it's like to be a lawmaker. Sixty-four attendees will participate in Congressional Insight, a computer game simulation in which the participants become members of the 106th Congress. Participants will be presented with all of the different pressures members of Congress face, including PACs, their district's interests; committee interests; lobbyists; public opinion; the media; and on and on. "I do this for a living, and I've lost two times out of the three times I played. I wasn't happy," said Chad Mitchell, associate director of political affairs for NAFCU. Mitchell will moderate the game. The setting is 1998. The members of Congress in the game are in an election year, and must make decisions that will balance their election chances with what they think needs to be done. "Anything that can happen in real life can happen in this game. They'll find that if they spend too much time with the lobbyists, a controversy will befall them. A player might get caught in the Caribbean with some interest group." Throughout the game, as the members make decisions, they are presented with poll ratings, to see how they're doing in the court of public opinion. Players will learn what it's like to write and introduce a bill; run a Congressional office; appoint committee members; and others. "They're going to learn that there are a lot of trade-offs that have to be made in Washington," said Mitchell. The game will be played on July 19 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. There will be winners and losers. About one-third of participants will lose, while the others will get reelected. Each member of Congress will consist of eight NAFCU attendees. Mitchell said the game is designed so that no one team member can dominate that member of Congress. The ultimate goal of the game is to give attendees an insight into the legislative process. "I've done this three times and you see a look on people's faces like a light bulb comes on when they really start to understand why Congress is a little more strapped than they may have thought," said Mitchell. There are 126,000 possible outcomes to the game. While many answers are not right or wrong, there are some. For example when the chance to appoint someone to a non-partisan board comes up, if the member picks the non-partisan candidate out of the three choices, they've picked the right one. "That's an example of something any seasoned lawmaker would know how to do," said Mitchell. Unfortunately, he said, most questions aren't that easy. Participants are not playing against each other. They play against other fictional members of the 106th Congress. It's not the only unique way NAFCU is planning on using technology at this year's conference. The trade will also be broadcasting live Web casts on its site (www.nafcunet.org). Live interviews with NAFCU officials and some sessions, such as NAFCU CEO Fred Becker's opening address, will be available on the NAFCU site. A Webcast schedule is available at NAFCU's site. -pgentile@cutimes.com