Two years ago in the 2006 election cycle, the Credit Union Association of Colorado backed Jeff Crank, a credit union supporter, in a crowded Republican primary field for an open congressional seat in the Colorado Springs area.

In addition to CUAC's support of Crank, CUNA made one of its largest independent expenditures of that election cycle to help elect Jeff, spending $160,000 to help this strong credit union friend. When the dust settled, Jeff's election bid fell short by just 893 votes–one of the closest races in the U.S.–and particularly disappointing in light of the 300,000 credit union members in that district.

Losing elections is never fun, and several voices in the movement were critical of CUNA for making this large expenditure and failing to win this election. This criticism was misguided. Supporting strong credit union candidates is not without risk and the only way to "insure" you never lose an election is to never participate in one. A policy of noninvolvement will make every election night an uneventful one. It will also ensure that credit unions never advance the legislative ball one single yard.