We can all breathe a sigh of relief that the elections arefinally over. The campaign sniping on the television and theintrusive robo-calling is done. Now, we have to get down to what itall means for credit unions.

The Massachusetts Credit Union League made the somewhatcontroversial choice of backing Elizabeth Warren, mother of the Consumer Financial ProtectionBureau, in her successful campaign for the Senate. Not only did shewin, but she also highlighted her support of credit unions during her acceptance speech. She included her“love” for credit unions among a list of key supporters, adding,“All of you have my back, and I promise you, I’ll have yourback.”

How that translates into action will be interesting to say theleast. I have no doubt she sees credit unions in her state asstrong allies and the good guys that got caught up in the fixescreated for the less-than-savory dealings of the larger, moreaggressive financial services providers. However, her long andsignificant background indicates her strong support of consumerprotectionism above all else. Yes, credit unions are for theconsumer, but there are a laundry list of unintended consequencesstemming from legislation and regulatory implementation. Forexample, while credit unions in general are not a systemic threatto the American financial system, they are caught up in Dodd-Frankrequirements and CFPB’s codifying regulations that only further addto the burden of doing business as a financial institution. Themortgageservicing and wire transfer rules are prime examples, just to name a couple.On the APR piece of the mortgage servicing reg, credit unions areparticularly stifled because of their statutory interest rate cap. On top of that, there are thecosts of retraining staff, reprinting documentation, and–aboveall–retraining consumers on how to look at it. This regulatorychange will create greater consumer confusion rather than clarity.The regulators often don’t recognize this last part because theyare not the ones facing the consumers every day and tasked withexplaining that the credit union didn’t change its rates, butWashington changed the way they are calculated.

The question is whether Warren would fight to exempt creditunions from these problems and others that will inevitably arisefrom government “fixes” to what ails the financial servicesindustry and plagues the U.S. economy. What does having creditunions’ back mean? Will she oppose CRA for credit unions if itcomes up? Credit unions in her state are pretty tolerant of it butmuch less so nationwide where credit unions are not subject to it.Will she vigorously defend the credit union tax exemption in theface of Democrats’ desperate scramble for new revenues? Republicansblocked her appointed to head up the CFPB, so how well will sheforgive and forget and work across the aisle. Maybe she willsupport credit unions in their battle against the bankers, who wereparticularly harsh toward her during the campaign season, butcredit unions have had the support of many other more seniorsenators and not gotten it done in a decade.

Warren’s opponent for the senate seat, incumbent Sen. ScottBrown, who previously received funds from credit unions, also votedagainst delaying the implementation of the interchange rules underDodd-Frank. As I wrote in a column back in August, “Neither is agood pick and given Massachusetts’ penchant for blue, the leaguemade the best choice it could have. When Warren wins, hopefully sheremembers who helped bring her there.”

The PACs of CUNA and NAFCU continued their streak of strongelectoral wins, each claiming victory in more than 90% of thecampaigns they were involved in. Particularly of interest, CUNAhelped get three challengers elected to the House. These gamblesshould be high-reward ventures for the great risk they took inpotentially alienating the incumbent party. In addition, CUNAbacked 50 races where there were no incumbents and won 44. Theseseats, too, should reap strong supporters.

But what I find most interesting is the groundwork that theMaine Credit Union League, and no doubt others, is laying. Theleague reported four of six wins in the state legislature forcredit union volunteers. That figure is outstanding and crucialgrassroots work every league should aspire to. The credit unionwinners for re-election were Rep. Michael Lajoie, chair at LewistonMunicipal FCU; Rep. Ken Fredette, board member at SebasticookValley FCU; Rep. Jeffrey Gifford, board member at Lincoln MaineFCU; and Rep. Ray Wallace, a member of supervisory committee atMaine Highlands FCU. Congratulations to them and may more follow inyour footsteps.