As Broken on the Granite Bay P-T: Charlie Brown's 195 Million Credit Union Descrepency
Posted by: Aaron Park | 10/15/2008 12:51 PM
This was posted on the Granite Bay Press-Tribune. In light of the current economic circumstances, this is devastating for Brown. Brown was Chairman of the advisory committee of Sierra Central Credit Union and apparently was as unstable then as his campaign is today.
As issues go, the economy is the 800 lb. gorilla in this Congressional race, and many Californians will cast their vote for the most qualified and trustworthy financial expert. Dire warnings from the Federal Reserve Chairman about the next Great Depression have a way of focusing the mind.
The election is 21 days out, and absentee voting is underway. Charlie Brown's formidable Congressional opponent Tom McClintock is respected nationwide as a brilliant economics expert and strong fiscal conservative.
Charlie has several debates with McClintock and at least a few radio interviews under his belt. The whole point of these appearances is to get to know the candidates better. Few voters would send a rank amateur in financial matters to Congress right now. The stakes have never been higher (at least not in the last seven decades). The millions of Americans who opposed the $770 billion bailout are especially wary.
And yet, 4th District Congressional candidate Charlie Brown barely mentions his sole financial credential - approximately four years of experience as Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of Sierra Central Credit Union. According to the following quote on the Charlie Brown for Congress website, he was quite the crusader...
"He's remained true to his values. In 1996, Charlie was elected Chair of the Supervisory Committee of a local Credit Union. Responsible for fiscal oversight of an institution rife with waste and abuse, Charlie didn't turn a blind eye. He stood up for the fiscal responsibility that his members deserved."
Throughout the campaign, up until the 10/9 Bruce Maiman interview on KFBK, Charlie's website stated that it was a $5 million credit union. That night, a caller identified as Greg called in to the radio talk show to ask Charlie to explain a $195 million discrepancy. The call went like this:
(Caller) Greg: "Charlie, I want to ask you a little bit about your financial experience... We're going through a financial crisis right now, right? And I see on your website ... It says on your website it was a $5 million credit union. Well, you know what? I did some research, and it wasn't $5 million, it was $200 million... Where's your math? It was a $200 million credit union at that time, and since you left their Supervisory Committee, it has grown, it's tripled to a $600 million credit union. So that's why I'm curious as to the veracity, and the accuracy of your website."
Charlie: "Well, I guess... you know, while I was there, the assets I was aware of were $5 million, it has grown tremendously since then..."
(Interrupted by caller)
(Caller) Greg: "No, no, no that's not true. When you left it, when you left that Supervisory Committee, it was $200 million, that's a hundred and ninety-five..."
(Interrupted by host Bruce Maiman)
Bruce: "Who says... who says - I know, Greg? I know that the website says $5 million, who says it's $200 million??"
(Caller) Greg: "Pardon me?"
Bruce: "Who says it's $200 million?"(Caller) Greg: "Those are the facts, Bruce."
Bruce: "Where are those facts?"
(Caller) Greg: "The facts are available. Charlie, what credit union was it?"
Charlie: "Uh...Sierra Central?"
(Caller) Greg: "Sierra Central Credit Union, it's based in Yuba City, I've been a member of that credit union for a long time. I know what the facts are, and Charlie, I can't understand what's on your website."
Charlie: "Uh, they were not, they did not have $200 million in assets when I left it."
(Caller) Greg: "Yes they did. And it's $600 million now, which means they tripled in growth since you left. What's that about?"
Bruce: "When did you leave Charlie?"
Charlie: "Uh, let's see - woulda left it right around 2000?"
Bruce: "So, between 2000 and 2006-2007, and there's been tremendous growth, has it not? Could that have anything to do with it Greg?"
(Caller) Greg: "Well, Bruce, here's my point. With the financial crises we have going on right now, it's a federal crime to make false assertions about a financial institution that might cause it harm."
Bruce: "Greg, from what I understand, the credit union says there's never been any fraud or abuse."
(Caller) Greg: "And you know what? The current management of the credit union has been absolutely stellar. Charlie left under some duress, after the current management came in, and it's grown tremendously, and yet Charlie says it was a $5 million credit union when in fact it was a $200 million credit union."
Charlie: "I think you must have it confused with the Golden One or something and need to..."
(Caller) Greg: "No, no, no, don't be giving me that stuff Charlie! I've been a member of that credit union for a long time."
Bruce: "Greg, where can we get that information, other than Charlie Brown's website?"
(Caller) Greg: "Go to www.sccu..." (Interrupted by Bruce) .... Call their CEO!!!"
Bruce: "O.K., you know what, let's do this.
Greg, let me put you on hold for a minute, and can you give that information to Kendall, and then I can check on that later?
.... If we're going to talk veracity here, let's have some facts backed up that we can check."
The name of the credit union has never been on the "Charlie Brown for Congress" website, which seems strange. The description of his reign as Chairman of the Supervisory Committee lacks any specifics. It seems logical that if Charlie was the crusader who cleaned up a financial institution rife with waste and abuse, he would chronicle his successful reform measures.
Instead of compelling evidence, the reader is left with vague, unverifiable claims... "he didn't turn a blind eye" and "he stood up for the fiscal responsibility that his members deserved."
Perhaps Charlie is hoping that no one will check the facts. And he might have gotten by with it, if not for caller Greg.
A little research into Sierra Central Credit Union's history makes two things clear. Charlie Brown can't keep his numbers straight, and Sierra Central Credit Union is much better off without him.
Sierra Central Credit Union had approximately $29 million in assets when it was formed in 1981. By 1999, SCCU had approximately $242 million in assets.
These numbers raise serious doubts about Charlie Brown's competence.
Charlie Brown was Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of a credit union for several years, and he can't remember that this financial institution had over $200 million in assets? Indeed, he swears up and down it was only $5 million.
During Charlie's tenure as Chairman of the Supervisory Committee at SCCU, things went badly. Membership dropped, growth stagnated, and several key staff members left the credit union, creating a nine-month long leadership void.
It's becoming clear why caller Greg kept emphasizing the fact that SCCU grew rapidly after Charlie left. It looks as though there's a connection.
In January of 2000, SCCU's Board of Directors made a hiring decision that led to a finance management Dream Team: John Cassidy, Jim Almon, and Ron Sweeney. Their first move was to "identify problems" and begin building a new leadership team. It appears that it was during this process that Charlie left the credit union's Supervisory Committee.
These changes led to "what some still call a miraculous recovery," with an explosive growth in assets that has continued to present day.
After the Bruce Maiman show, the "$5 million" reference disappeared from the Charlie Brown for Congress website, but everything else about the credit union remained.
It might be time for 4th District voters to begin taking a long, hard look at Charlie Brown and demanding the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. He is asking us to place the future of our economy in his hands. That's a lot to ask, for a man who can't remember the difference between $5 million and $200 million.
Women's right to vote didn't exist until they fought for it. Blacks rights for equality didn't happen until...
Attempt at "Gotcha!" Politics Backfires
Aaron's latest blog post is a very long way to make an attack that immiediately backfires.
The crux of the entire thing is that Brown was asked about a data point that he couldn't remember off the top of his head by a guy playing "Gotcha!" The guy (Greg somebody from the McClintock Campaign) found a minor numerical discrepancy on a website and tried to make it into a capital case. What he did, though, was highlight Charlie Brown's ties to his community and his leadership as the Chair of a Supervisory Committee of a credit union that was in trouble.
Charlie Brown was the Chair of the Sierra Central Credit Union Supervisory Committee from 1996 to 2000. The Supervisory Committee is the same as a board of directors.
Quote
Trio Of Former Bankers Help Turn Around Ailing Sierra Central
Credit Union Journal
1/22/2001
A credit union at which growth had stagnated and the CEO's desk had sat empty for nine months has turned itself around in a big way, thanks to management hired away from local banks.
After going the final three quarters of 1999 without a chief executive, the board of Sierra Central Credit Union filled the spot in January of 2000 with former Great Western/Washington Mutual Bank manager John Cassidy, who in turn recruited colleague Jim Almon for president/COO.
Unquote
Did you read that last paragraph? The board of the credit union--led by Brown--filled the vacant CEO spot with the guy who turned the business around. That is what boards are supposed to do.
As Greg notes in Aaron's post, the credit union has done very well since. Unfortunately Greg didn't give credit where due...to the people responsible for it, Charlie Brown and the Supervisory Committee. Instead he tries unsuccessfully to blame him.
How does this matter beyond the obvious issue of dirty politics?
The bottom line is this: McClintock has NO CLUE what to do about the financial crisis. His playbook is blank. His prescription in a radio interview (the only thing on his website that says anything at all about the crisis) was to cut the capital gains tax and eliminate farm subsidies to pay for it. That's it, and that would have done nothing to clear up the asset status of major banks which is the primary cause of frozen credit. The problem is the crisis requires government action and McClintock is completely incapable of either understanding that simple fact or of how to use the government's resources to attack the problem. I'll say it again: He is completely incapable of crafting a solution for the financial crisis. He just doesn't get it.
Brown has a clear plan of action--his American Jobs plan. Charlie Brown gets it.
Meanwhile McClintock's charicature of a campaign continues to grasp at straws trying to find something--anything--that they can use to attack Charlie Brown. They are so desperate that they are throwing stuff at the wall to see if it sticks. In this case it booomeranged back and hit them in the face.
So thank you, once again, Aaron, for another post helpful to Charlie Brown. Keep up the good work!
Bob
Bob - there's more where this came from. Glad you took the bait.
BTW, there is no way to prove that Charlie Brown had anything to do with the turnaround.
I guess you are going to need to hear from the people who know Charlie Best.
Am I the only one that picked up the absurdity of "Bob"'s defense?
If Colonel Klink was such a GREAT Chairman of the advisory board of that credit union, how the hell could he forget that it was a $200million credit union on his website? He had said it was a $5million credit union.
Unbelievable... "Bob" - quit leading with your chin.
TEAM McCLINTOCK DIRTH OF SELLING POINTS
As mentioned earlier today, McClintock is running a lazy campaign. He offers virtually no selling points for himself. In a real world business organization, he would not survive the probationary period. He has nothing to offer but criticism of others.
While in Sacramento, he did not rise to leadership positions. Nobody saw him as being an effective problem solver.
And now, he can't even match Doolittle in running an effective campaign.
What's is to hire this guy? He's a McCain clone, can't run an effective campaign.
Shoots a lot of air balls...
Aaron,
What is Tom McClintock's plan to solve the financial crisis?
If you can't answer this question your man has no business being in this race. It's the most important question to voters by far.
What's bad for McCain is probably bad for McClintock:
Quote
The PEW Research Center is out with a new study that suggests John McCain's attacks against Barack Obama's character and associations have strongly backfired.
Buried in a study released on Wednesday is this nugget:
"Obama has an advantage in voter assessments of the tone of the campaign. Nearly half (48%) see McCain as too personally critical of Obama. By comparison, just 22% see Obama as too critical of McCain. Even among McCain's own voters, nearly one in five (19%) think he has been too critical of Obama... Perceptions about the campaign McCain is running are starkly different from what they were in June, when just 26% said he had been too personally critical of Obama. In contrast, the percentage believing that Obama has been too negative is nearly unchanged since June."
The findings, in many ways, are nothing more than a fait accompli for the McCain campaign, which admitted on Wednesday that it has lost the spin war against Obama.
Unquote
Bob
Bob - campaign induced blindness is a real problem for you.
Since you are from out of state and were brought in to run Charlie's campaign - you don't remember when McClintock made a name for himself in the 2003 recall. Arnold quoted him frequently as did the other leading candidates for Governor.
Also - it is noteworthy that you are now backing off of your defense of Brown at that Credit Union and are trying to deflect the criticism of Brown's failure to know the size of a Credit Union he Chaired the Advisory Board For!!!
Lee - you're being Lazy or deliberately ignorant of McClintock's stances and very public record. You can't accuse McC of not laying out his stances on issues and at the same time call him a career politician. It is an impossible dichotomy.
I think you should go on another trip - you're out of Trump and we have a hand full of aces.
Aaron,
What is Tom McClintock's plan to resolve the current national economic crisis? Your non-answer didn't answer the question.
If McClintock can't answer this question - and he has failed to do so thus far - he should not even be in the race.
Bob
TOM McCLINTOCK MADE A NAME FOR HIMSELF
Yes indeed he did get a lot of attention in 2003. As I remember, he made into the NYT and the Larry King show. What did he get? Thirteen and a half percent. That's a little better than 1 out of 8 voters.
He has not been able to turn that name into anything since. Instead of raising his game, he has gone to pot.
So are we supposed to vote for McClintock because he made a name for himself in 2003?
How about McClintock getting out of the sewer and start offering up on target ideas about how to restore confidence in the credit markets and the banking system.
Relevance to the times, please!!!
Ladies and Gentlemen - Neal and Bob are in full bloom.
Apparently, they are deaf and dumb or have been hit with some sort of brain damage. McClintock has been all over debates and the news talking about the bailout and the solution to the economic crisis.
I have blogged on it in the past... your answers are out there.
Answers are "out there"? Yep, they are "out there" all right. Out in left field.
Out where, Aaron? I can't find them on his own campaign website. Where else should I look? Free Republic? Get real. The guy has no plan. He expects to get elected on the basis of his sterling reputation as an obstructionist, a role he would continue if elected to Congress--to the detriment of his district.
Bob