Barney Frank

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Barney Frank
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 4th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 5, 1981
Preceded by	Robert Drinan
Born	March 31, 1940 (1940-03-31) (age 68) Bayonne, New Jersey
Political party	Democratic
Religion	Jewish [1]
Website	Congressman Barney Frank

Barnett "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 (map) since 1981. The district includes many of Boston's southern suburbs--such as Brookline, Newton and Foxborough--as well as the South Coast.

Following the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives in the 2006 midterm elections, Frank assumed the chairmanship of the House Financial Services Committee.

[edit] Early life

Frank was born to a Jewish family in Bayonne, New Jersey and was educated at Harvard College, where he resided in Kirkland House and then 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 House of Representatives, 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.

[edit] National politics

In 1979, Frank became a member of the Massachusetts Bar. Only a year later, he won the Democratic nomination for the seat of Father Robert Drinan, who had left Congress following a call by Pope John Paul II for priests to withdraw from political positions. In 1982, redistricting forced him to run against Republican Margaret Heckler. The newly configured district retained Frank's district number--the 4th--but was geographically more Heckler's district. Initially a heavy underdog, he focused on Heckler's initial support for President Ronald Reagan's tax cuts—and won by 20 percentage points. He hasn't faced credible opposition since, and has been reelected 12 times. The Republicans haven't even bothered to put up an opponent against him since 2002.

1981, Congressional Pictorial Directory - Frank's first term as Congressman

Frank is one of the most liberal members of the House, and has been outspoken on many civil rights issues, including gay 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."

[edit] Reprimand

In 1990, the House voted to reprimand Frank when it was revealed that Steve Gobie, a male escort whom Frank had befriended after hiring him through a personal advertisement, claimed to have conducted an escort service 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.^[2] Regarding Gobie's more scandalous claims the report by the Ethics Committee concluded, "In numerous instances where an assertion made by Mr. Gobie (either publicly or during his Committee deposition) was investigated for accuracy, the assertion was contradicted by third-party sworn testimony or other evidence of Mr. Gobie himself."^[3]

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."^[4] Attempts to expel or censure Frank, led by Republican member Larry Craig, failed.^[5][6] Rather, the House voted 408-18 to reprimand him.^[7] 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.

[edit] Quips and controversies

In 1995, then-Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey referred to Frank as "Barney Fag" in a press interview. Armey apologized and said it was "a slip of the tongue". Frank did not accept the "slip of the tongue" excuse and responded, "I turned to my own expert, my mother, who reports that in 59 years of marriage, no one ever introduced her as Elsie Fag."^[8]

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", "funniest", and "most eloquent" member of the House.^[9] As of May 2007, Frank is one of two openly gay members of Congress, the other being Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

Frank is known for his witty, self-deprecating sense of humor. He once famously quipped that he was unable to complete his review of the Starr Report detailing President Bill Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky, complaining that it was "too much reading about heterosexual sex".^[10]

Frank is also noted for his occasionally caustic remarks about Republicans. In a June 2007 New England Cable News interview, Frank said of Mitt Romney: "The real Romney is clearly an extraordinarily ambitious man with no perceivable political principle whatsoever. He is the most intellectually dishonest human being in the history of politics."^[11]

[edit] Political positions

In Congress, Frank is an ardent supporter of medical marijuana. He was the author of the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act (H.R. 2592), an attempt to stop federal government from intervening with states' medical marijuana laws.^[12] Frank consistently voted for the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, annually proposed by Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), that would prohibit Department of Justice from prosecuting medical marijuana patients.^[13] As of March 25, 2008 he is trying to pass a law on a federal level which will decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.^[14] That bill is the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008, or bill 5843.

Frank has also been a critic of aspects of the Federal Reserve system, partnering with some Republicans in this opposition.^[15] Frank says that he and Republican Congressman Ron Paul "first bonded because we were both conspicuous nonworshipers at the Temple of the Fed and of the High Priest [Alan] Greenspan.”^[15]

In 2006, Frank was 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 said of the vote, "I think it’s very likely to be found unconstitutional. It’s true that when you defend civil liberties you are typically defending people who do obnoxious things... You play into their hand when you let them provoke you into overdoing it. I don’t want these thugs to claim America is hypocritical.”^[16]

[edit] 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.^[17] The issue became especially relevant during the Mark Foley page scandal of 2006, during which Frank clarified his position on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher:

I think there's a right to privacy. But the right to privacy should not be a right to hypocrisy. And people who want to demonize other people shouldn't then be able to go home and close the door and do it themselves.^[18]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Barney Frank

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Barney Frank

• Congressman Barney Frank official U.S. House website
• Barney Frank for Congress official campaign website

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia

Articles

• A Liberal Wit Builds Bridges To the G.O.P., The New York Times, May 13, 2008.
• Congressman Frank defends trans-exclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, The Bilerico Project, September 28, 2007.
• The Republicans' Democracy Disorder, In These Times, 2006-02-04
• Congressman Barney Frank: A Buzzflash Interview, Buzzflash, July 22, 2003
• Monumentally Frank: Interview with Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank Metro Weekly, March 20, 2003.
• Frank Discusses U.S. Policy, Attitude Regarding Gay Rights, The Hoya, October 19, 2001.
• An Interview with U.S. Representative Barney Frank, keithboykin.com, 1999.