Cloutier urges small bankers to get involved in primaries

With the 2012 presidential primaries beginning in a few months, the president and CEO of MidSouth Bank is urging his fellow community bankers to make their voices heard. Rusty Cloutier has written an editorial for the American Banker, saying it’s time for community banks to get involved in the political process. Cloutier says the word needs to get out that community banks are being hog-tied by regulations, while the larger banks that played a role in causing the devastating recession of 2008 are still being allowed to do what they do. “As my father explained to me when I was a young man, a dozen motivated people can change the direction of a city, a state, and a nation if well prepared with strong passionate arguments for their side,” Cloutier says. Cloutier notes the Republican presidential field has several candidates who are sympathetic to community banks. Former Gov. Buddy Roemer is a veteran community banker, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been bringing up the issue of overregulation of small banks in his stump speeches. And there are large concentrations of community banks in Texas and Minnesota. Texas Gov. Rick Perry is expected to enter the GOP race this weekend, while former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann are already in the race. Read the full column here.