Independent Banker - July 2018 - 74

CONNECTIONS
Call to Action
Notes from a
grassroots advocate
Brad Bolton of Community Spirit Bank off ers his
tips on eff ective lobbying for community banks.
By William Atkinson
When it comes to staying in touch with members of
Congress, there are probably few people in the industry
other than full-time lobbyists who are as committed to the
concept as Brad Bolton, president and CEO of $143 million-asset
Community Spirit Bank in Red Bay, Ala. We
asked him how he does it-and why.
Why is it important for community bankers to communicate
with their members of Congress?
Bolton: The importance of having our voice heard in
Washington has never been more important. ICBA does
an excellent job of getting information out to members,
and also making it easy for us to get involved in grassroots
eff orts of going straight to our delegation of congressmen
and senators.
How do you communicate with your senators
and representatives?
Bolton: I use Twitter to reach out to my delegation at least
once a week, and sometimes daily. It is very easy to click
on the links in the ICBA NewsWatch Today newsletter
that talk about the pertinent issues, then
tag your representatives through Twitter.
For years, representatives have responded
to mailed letters and email. Now they are
responding to Twitter, too.
Have you expanded beyond your personal
efforts?
Bolton: If community banks get regulatory
relief, everyone wins: the banks, our employees
and our customers. As a result, we
also send messages to our board of
directors and all of our employees,
encouraging them to click on these
74 Q ICBA Independent Banker Q July 2018
ICBA links, too. I also encourage as many of our customers
as possible to follow me on Twitter and get involved.
One message might be, " Click here to sign this message. "
How have customers responded?
Bolton: Customer involvement has been a slower process,
especially on the consumer side, but we continue to work
on that. Customers are beginning to realize just how much
community banks need regulatory relief. I haven't started
doing this yet, but when a really pertinent issue comes up,
I want to print out some pre-addressed postcards that customers
can sign and put in the mail to their congressmen
and senators.
Have you seen any results yet?
Bolton: Representatives are defi nitely paying attention.
They are responding to our Twitter messages. In addition,
we already have at least one U.S. representative who
signed on to S.2155 [Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief
and Consumer Protection Act], and I think that was a
direct result of the impact of ICBA, our state association
and our grassroots eff orts of community bankers throughout
the state reaching out to their members of Congress.
Do you have any recommendations for other community
bankers?
Bolton: I strongly encourage all community bankers to
" tag " their members of Congress. They have staff who
monitor all of these messages. Community bankers
should also engage everyone that they can in these
grassroots advocacy eff orts: the executives, their
boards, their employees and even their customers.
ICBA does an excellent job of fi ghting for community
banks on a daily basis, but it takes each of
us in our respective communities to stay
engaged, monitor developments and
then get the word out.
William Atkinson is a writer in Illinois.
Independent Banker - July 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Independent Banker - July 2018
