1) The fact that he ventured off onto a political stream of thought is not illegal, but it is certainly in bad taste. Like most of us do on occasion, I assume something you may have said sent him off on that tangent, whether conscious or not. Either way, he should have ignored it.
2) The fact that he has worked for several firms over the last few years is, in and of itself, not something to be too concerned about, as long as he didn't have any disparaging remarks on his U4 (the report you saw when you looked him up on the FINRA website). It's possible one or more of the firms merged, so he may not have actually switched jobs, but it would look that way because each company is listed separately. It's also possible they closed the branch he was working out of. There can be any number of reasons, none of which should raise a red flag as to why he has seemed to move around. If you leave a firm to improve yourself or your opportunities, no one would think you are "sketchy".
3) He got your contact info because your Credit Union gave it to him. You don't say so in your OP, but I would guess your CD's were held in a "House Account" (otherwise the original broker of record named on the account would have been the one to contact you) and when they convert to cash the possibility of generating commissions becomes available. You can't blame them for that, after all, they aren't a charity. When that happened the information went to him because he was probably next in line to get the lead. If you aren't comfortable with any solicitation for a securities purchase, don't do it! Which it seems is what you did. FWIW, CD's pay virtually ZERO commission, unless you are talking 6 or more figures as the principal amount and even then it is minimal.
4) The 8 to 9% is almost certainly a long term projection based on past results for an equity fund or some sort of managed portfolio. You said "He was promising 8-9%" Are you sure? If he did indeed "promise" those kinds of returns going forward, then he was wrong to do so and unless he is a complete idiot, he probably said "in the past" or something similar that you may have missed. Again, since you weren't comfortable and ended the call, no real harm done. If you feel strongly about it then you can report him to his branch manager.
5) Just because the guy at Edward Jones has less than a years experience does not make him a "fraud". Every broker, asset manager and financial advisor out there at one point in the past had their first year on the job.
6) Does this Credit Union offer a full suite of investment choices? Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, Options, ETF's, CEF's, etc? If so, you have many, MANY available investment vehicles you can access. If all they offer are CD's and a few other securities (Mutual funds, for instance) it may behoove you to seek out another firm which can offer more flexibility. If all you are interested in is Certificates of Deposit, then of course, almost any bank can set up an IRA and sell you CD's.
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