WICHITA, Kan. –Expected but still comforting, Kansas credit unions over the weekend heard directly from some of their most loyal lawmakers who came to their defense in the just concluded confrontation with the banking lobby over a "compromise" July 1 law restricting field of membership expansion.

Expressing disdain for what he said was a banker strategy to "simply restrict competition and harm consumers," Rep. S. Mike Kiegerl, an Olathe Republican, confessed to making "intemperate remarks" during hearings on the FOM/merger bill before the House Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee of which he is a member but maintained that banks "which nickel and dime consumers" with fees were successful in a CU juggernaut.

Kiegerl's remarks like those of four other House members drew a standing ovation from the crowd of 400 CU executives who attended the closing business session of the annual Kansas Credit Union Association conference here.