Barney Frank

Barney Frank (born March 31, 1940) is an American politician, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a Democrat, and has represented Massachusetts's 4th congressional district since 1981. Following the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives in the 2006 midterm elections, Frank is in line to assume the chairmanship of the powerful House Banking Committee.

Beginnings

Frank was born in Bayonne, New Jersey and was educated at Harvard College, where he resided in Winthrop House, graduating in 1962. He taught undergraduates at Harvard while studying for a PhD, but left in 1968, before completing that degree, to become the Chief Assistant to Mayor Kevin White of Boston, a position he held for three years. He then served for one year as Administrative Assistant to Congressman Michael J. Harrington.

In 1972, Frank was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature, where he served for eight years. During that time, he entered Harvard Law School and graduated in 1977.

While in state and local government, Frank taught part time at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Boston University. He published numerous articles on politics and public affairs, and in 1992 he published Speaking Frankly, an essay on the role the Democratic Party should play in the 1990s.

National politics

In 1979, Frank became a member of the Massachusetts Bar, before being elected to Congress in 1980. He was elected to fill the seat of Father Robert Drinan, who had been ordered to leave politics by Pope John Paul II. In 1982, redistricting forced him to run against Republican Margaret Heckler. An underdog, he focused on Heckler's support for President Reagan—and won by 20 percentage points. Since then, he has been re-elected consistently and easily. Frank is the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee.

Frank is a prominent figure in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, and has been outspoken on many human rights issues, as well as on issues of gay and lesbian rights. In 1987, he spoke publicly about his homosexuality for the first time. He said in a 1996 interview: "I'm used to being in the minority. I'm a left-handed gay Jew. I've never felt, automatically, a member of any majority."

In 1990, the House voted to reprimand Frank when it was revealed that Steve Gobie, a male prostitute that Rep. Frank had befriended after hiring him through a personal advertisement, claimed to have conducted a prostitution ring from Frank's apartment when he was not at home. Frank had dismissed Gobie earlier that year, and reported the incident to the House Ethics Committee, after learning of Gobie's activities. After an investigation, the House Ethics Committee found no evidence that Frank had known of or been involved in the alleged illegal activity.^[1]

The New York Times reported on July 20, 1990 that The House Ethics Committee recommended "that Representative Barney Frank receive a formal reprimand from the House for his relationship with a male prostitute"^[2] Attempts to expel or censure Frank failed; instead the House voted 408-18 to reprimand him. This condemnation was not reflected in Frank's district, where he won re-election in 1990 with 66 percent of the vote, and has won by larger margins ever since.

In 1995, former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey bashed Frank when he referred to Frank as "Barney Fag" in a press interview. Armey apologized and claimed it was "a slip of the tongue." But Frank did not accept the "slip of the tongue" excuse, and famously responded "My mother says that in 59 years since being married to my father, no one had ever called her Elsie Fag."

In 1998, he founded the National Stonewall Democrats, the national gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Democratic organization.

In 2004 and again in 2006, a survey of Capitol Hill staffers published in Washingtonian magazine gave Frank the title of the "brainiest" member of the House of Representatives. In the same survey he was also listed as the "funniest" member and the "most eloquent" member of the House.^[3]

The Frank Rule

Frank's blunt stance on outing certain gay Republicans has become well-publicized, dubbed "The Frank Rule" - that it is acceptable to out a closeted gay person, if that person uses their power or notoriety to hurt gay people.^[4] The issue became especially relevant during the page scandal of 2006, during which Frank clarified his position on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher:

The fact is, yes, the Republicans do think [homosexuality] should be a crime. And I think there’s a right to privacy. But the right to privacy should not be a right to hypocrisy...people who want to demonize other people shouldn’t then be able to go home and close the door, and do it themselves. [5]

Controversies

In 2006, Frank provoked the ire of Veteran's Groups as one of only three Representatives to oppose the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act, which restricted protests (notably those of Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church) at soldiers' funerals. He opposed the bill, which passed unanimously in the Senate, on civil liberties and constitutional grounds. Frank's vote was criticized heavily by conservatives.^[6][7]

Quotations

• Moderate Republicans are reverse Houdinis. They tie themselves up in knots and then tell you they can't do anything because they're tied up in knots.—quoted by E.J. Dionne in the Washington Post, November 16, 2004
• The issue is not that morals be applied to public policy, it's that conservatives bring public policy to spheres of our lives where it should not enter.^[8]
• Adults are entitled to do with their money what they want to do.—March 15, 2006, in opposition to proposed internet gambling ban in US.
• What kind of social, cultural authoritarianism are we practicing here? I think (the bill) is a great infringement on liberty. When it comes to an individual decision on how to spend your own time and money, that's not my position. That’s not my business. I am skeptical of people who want to protect people from themselves—in opposition to proposed internet gambling ban in US. July 11, 2006
• We're told "don't take things personally", but I take this personally. I take it personally when people decide to take political batting practice with my life.—speaking on the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. July 18, 2006

Other Notable Projects or Interviews

• A Union In Wait

External links

• Official Congressional web site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Official campaign site
• Congressman Barney Frank: A Buzzflash Interview, via buzzflash.com
• Frank Discusses U.S. Policy, Attitude Regarding Gay Rights, via thehoya.com
• Monumentally Frank: Interview with Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank By Rep. Barney Frank, metroweekly.com
• The Republicans' Democracy Disorder, via inthesetimes.com
• An Interview with U.S. Representative Barney Frank, via keithboykin.com
• Text of Colbert Report interview with Rep. Barney Frank, via boston.com
• Congresspedia article on Barney Frank

References

1. ^ Media Matters for America article, October 5, 2006, which cites the Boston Globe, 7/27/1990, as well as the Ethics Committee's report, 7/20/1990.
2. ^ Richard L. Berke, New York Times, "Formal Reprimand of Rep. Frank Is Urged by House's Ethics Panel", July 20, 1990. Retrieved Nov. 29, 2006.
3. ^ "Best and Worst of Congress", 01 Sep 2006. Retrieved Nov. 29, 2006.
4. ^ Laweekly.com
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ Glenn Beck, "The Real Story: Meet Your Congress", November 7, 2006. Retrieved Nov. 29, 2006.
7. ^ HubPolitics.com, "Rep. Frank Votes Against "Respect for America’s Fallen Heroes Act"", May 11, 2006. Retrieved Nov. 29, 2006.
8. ^ KUOW.org

• Johansson, Warren & Percy, William A. Outing: Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence. Harrington Park Press, 1994. pp. 106, 139, 143, 154, 157, 188-9, 228, 231, 235, 291

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