VANCOUVER, Wash. – Some of the organizers of SaveCCU, the group of members of the Columbia Community Credit Union which prevented the $700 million Columbia Community Credit Union from becoming a bank in 2003, say that transparency remains an issue for the CU even though former and current members of the group make up a majority. Doug Schafer, SaveCCU's legal counsel, explained that, SaveCCU believes some members of the group elected to the board in 2004 have turned away from commitments to run the credit union in an open and transparent manner. But Duane Bequette, chairman of the Columbia board and a former SaveCCU member disagreed. "We have changed election procedures and voting policies to be more member-friendly. We have a major commitment to transparency." Bequette said the CU had decided to eliminate candidate statements from the board election packets it sends to members after members had complained about the packets' size. "At two pages per candidate that gets pretty big, pretty fast," Bequette said. He wouldn't comment on whether the board had considered including a smaller statement from each candidate. Save CCU has charged the elimination of the statements is an attempt by the CU board to sway the election.