Looking back four years ago finds former Utah Credit Union League Lobbyist Rob Bishop, emerging as the winner of the GOP Congressional primary race to represent the state's First Congressional District.
By a margin of 60-40 Bishop, a Brigham City school teacher who served briefly as a league lobbyist in the tough 1999 battle with banks over field of membership expansion, defeated Ken Garn, former Utah House Majority Leader, who had received the backing of the Utah Bankers Association.
Garn, a millionaire Layton businessman and First National Bank of Layton chairman, had reportedly put more than $700,000 in a campaign to defeat Bishop, who was the recipient of a vigorous get-out-the-vote telephone and mail campaign of the league and Utah credit unions.
"The election in Utah's first congressional district demonstrates that credit unions are committed to staying politically involved. Credit union members are realizing that they cannot wait until officials are elected and operate on the hope that they will listen to them. The fact that Rob Bishop was outspent yet won this primary race proves again that credit union members are fully engaged in the political process and they care about their credit unions," said CUNA President/CEO Dan Mica.
