Who is Barney Frank?
By Vasko Kohlmayer
"As Congress grapples with solutions for a faltering economy, Barney Frank sits at the center of power."
Thus wrote John Gallagher in The Advocate as our government officials desperately struggled to limit the fallout from the unfolding financial crisis.
Gallagher is right. As Chairman of the Financial Service Committee in the US House of Representatives, Barney Frank plays a crucial role in determining in what ways much of the bailout and stimulus money is spent. This is because the committee over which he presides oversees the housing and banking sectors, two industries that are at the center of the current economic crisis. But Frank's power and influence extend beyond his chairmanship of the important Financial Services Committee. Outspoken, smart and forceful, Frank has emerged as one of the heavyweights in the Democrat-led House and as such instrumental in shaping its course and agenda. There are some who think that his behind-the-scenes influence exceeds even that of Nancy Pelosi. Whether or not this is so, there can be no doubt that Barney Frank is currently one of the most powerful politicians in the country.
Given his present position of influence, taxpayers may want to learn more about the background of the man who directs how hundreds of billions of dollars of their money is spent.
Barnett "Barney" Frank was first elected to Congress in 1981 at the age of forty-one from Massachusetts' 4th district. Six years later he made national news when he publicly declared his homosexuality. By that admission he became the first openly gay member of the House of Representatives.
In 1991, Barney Frank received an official reprimand for reflecting "discredit upon the House." The reprimand came as a result of his relationship with a man named Steve Gobi, a male prostitute whom Frank initially paid $80 for sex. Frank later took Gobi to live with him in his home, making him a personal aide. He paid him $20,000 in compensation (unreported to the IRS) and let him use his car. Subsequent investigation revealed that in the course of their relationship, Frank used his congressional office and stationary to fix Gobi's 33 parking fines. Frank also used his congressional letterhead to write a reference letter to Gobi's probation officer -- Gobiwas under court supervision as a convicted felon with a prison record -- in which he gave false information. Most damningly, the investigation found that Gobi ran a prostitution ring from Frank's home. In his defense, Frank asserted he knew nothing of Gobi's illicit enterprise.
The Democrat -controlled House voted 408-18 to reprimand Frank after a heated debate during which some Republicans demanded expulsion. They pointed out that the claim that Frank did not know of Gobi's criminal activities was incredible to say the least.
Jeff Jacoby of The Boston Globe summed up their sentiments when he wrote: "Most pathetic of all was Frank's claim that he'd been 'victimized' -- that he was a just a 'good liberal' who was 'trying to help' Gobie, but got 'suckered.'"
Frank's Democrat colleagues, however, insisted that this was precisely what happened. During the debate, his friend Thomas Foglietta (D-PA) said, "Barney Frank is accused of being stupid and, my friend, if being stupid were grounds for expulsion, there'd be very few of us left here."
Although the latter part of Foglietta's statement may well be true, the first part is decidedly not. Whatever else he may be, Barney Frank is certainly not stupid. A former Harvard instructor, Barney Frank twice won the title "brainiest", "funniest," and "most eloquent" member of the House in a survey of Capitol Hill staffers. It truly strains the bounds of credulity that Frank, an accompl ished congressman and a former Ivy League lecturer, could be deceived under his own roof by a street hustler.
After Gobi, Barney Frank become involved in another questionable -- and possibly criminally tainted -- relationship with a man called Herb Moses. Moses, whom Frank called his "spouse," was a high-level executive at Fannie Mae from 1991 until 1998. Dubbed a "mortgage guru" by the National Mortgage News, Moses boasted that he helped develop "many of Fannie Mae's affordable housing and home improvement lending programs." It was, of course, these kinds of programs that ultimately led to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market that wiped out trillions dollars from the economy and produced the economic turmoil that we now face. Even though there were those warning against the precarious nature of the enterprise, Barney Frank -- whose committee oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- kept resisting reforms and besmirching those voicing concerns.
When the Bush administration proposed that oversight of Fannie and Freddie be transferred to the Treasury Department, Frank strongly opposed the plan, claiming:
"These two entities... are not facing any kind of financial crisis... The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."
Frank continued to claim almost until the day of the collapse that the two mortgage giants were financially sound. If we lived in a sane world, Barney Frank would be compelled to testify about his culpability in the current crisis and what role his romantic involvement with Herb Moses -- as well as the campaign contributions he received from Fannie and Freddie -- played in his shilling for these two moribund institutions.
Commenting on his shenanigans, Jeff Jacoby observed that under normal circumstances Frank's questionable relationships could have well landed him in prison. Voters in his very liberal congressional district, however, have awarded him with a string of easy re-elections.
In his public life Barney Frank is known as a civil rights hawk. A feisty progressive activist, Frank has poured much of his energies into the area of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues. One of his great achievements was the founding of theNational Stonewall Democrats, a gay activist arm of the Democrat Party that brought under one umbrella previously unaffiliated LGBT clubs across America. Describing itself as20"a grassroots force for social change," the organization is headquartered inWashington, D.C. and currently oversees more than 90 local chapters. The organization's website states that its activities focus primarily on "mobilizing the LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender] community to get out to vote on Election Day for fair-minded Democrats; and standing up when Republicans attack our families..."
As could be expected from the founder of the National Stonewall Democrats, Barney Frank voted ‘no' on constitutionally defining marriage as one-man-one-woman. During the debate he praised the progressive leaning of his own state's body politic: "I believe the political community of Massachusetts is prepared to say, if two men love each other and are prepared to be committed to each other legally as well as emotionally, that is rather a good thing and we will say it's okay." In 1999 Frank voted ‘no' on a bill which would ban gay adoptions in Washington, D.C. Needless to say, Frank's voting record has earned him a 97% lifetime rating from the ACLU.
Throughout his career Frank has pushed for the decriminalization of medical marijuana. He recently extended the scope of his efforts to the public at large. Last year he introduced a bill called the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008, which would have removed federal penalties for the possession o f up to 100 grams (3.5 oz) of the drug. Although Frank often talks about the "silliness" of jailing people for possessing small quantities of the substance, 100 grams is actually a large amount, which, by most accounts, makes for more than 200 doses. According to a recent analysis by High Times magazine, 100 grams of most marijuana strands goes for more than $1000 at street prices. Defending his bill, Frank said that it was "time for the politicians to catch up with the public on this." Frank words almost make it look like it is a common thing for Americans to walk around with $1000 worth of cannabis in their pockets.
in 2006, Frank voted against the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act, a bill aimed at restricting protests and demonstrations at soldiers' funerals. The measure passed unanimously in the Senate with Frank being one of only three legislators in the House who voted against the Act.
In 2003 Barney Frank voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, a brutal procedure during which a baby -- often viable -- is killed20in the birth canal by having its skull pierced and its brain sucked out. In addition, Frank also voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act and against the criminalization of taking of minors across state lines by non-family members to circumvent abortion laws. Not surprisingly, Frank's voting record earned him a 100% rating from NARAL.
In the area of national defense, Barney Frank has for years advocated a 25 percent reduction in the overall military budget of theUnited States. Earlier this month, he wrote in a piece that ran in the Nation, "[I]f we do not make reductions approximating 25 percent of the military budget starting fairly soon, it will be impossible to continue to fund an adequate level of domestic activity even with a repeal of Bush's tax cuts for the very wealthy."
He then challenged those who call for fiscal responsibility to first look "where our spending has been the most irresponsible and has produced the least good for the dollars expended - our military budget."
All those who care about the future of this country should be greatly concerned that Barney Frank, a leftist radical who publicly flaunts his homosexuality, is presently one of the most powerful politicians in America. His recent actions and statements make it amply clear that he will seek to use his present influence to implement as much of his extreme agenda as he possibly can. Given his party's hold on the White House and Congress his efforts may meet with much success.
Fw: Fwd: Who is Barney Frank - eye opener
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20 comments:
Hur. I'm sure much of this can be examined more closely and proven to be drivel, but I really can't be bothered. I am mildly surprised that it took MRWD this long to come up with a "Barney Frank, scourge of the economy" e-mail.
Shorter RWF: Teh Homos done stoled my moneyz.
Marlowe, LOL!
My reaction is, I wish I lived in Frank's district so I could vote for him.
Where's the punchline? According to this he's a progressive, smart, pro civil rights, anti-wasteful spending member of Congress. And...
Vasko Kohlmayer is a fruitier nut than anything ever grown in a california orchard -- and he has problems with barney frank jeez -- the wacky nuttyness he comes up with makes jessie jackson look like a WASP. check out his website -- even the name it proof truth is stranger than fiction -- americanthinker dot com.
Actually, it's the Treasury Department that controls the TARP funds. As for who oversees the stimulus...
(b) GENERAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING USE OF FUNDS.—The President and the heads of Federal departments and agencies shall manage and expend the funds made available in this Act[...].
There's no mention of the House Financial Services Committee in the final bill text, although they oversee the Fed, the SEC, and the Treasury.
The only sticky issue in this e-mail is who was responsible for not reforming the financial system, which has turned into a finger-pointing game. Republicans blame Frank, Frank blames Republicans, and meanwhile they all deregulated the financial industry.
I like that bit about decreasing the military budget. We spend 48% of the entire world's military budget. China spends 8%. And Congress is still trying to buy more F-22s, even as the military tries to get rid of them.
I, too, am a tad amazed that it's taken RWF to find someone dissing teh eeevul homo, Barney. Yeah, yeah, whatever.
Dems are complicit in deregulating the financial industry & Wall St, and I have been complaining about it in letters and emails to my Congressfolk forever. I was really upset when Clinton signed that law that basically repealed Glass-Steagle (not sure of spelling).
The difference bet. rightards and me (and my friends) is that we tend to hold Dems as accountable as we'd like to hold Repubs. My Repub. friends (yes I do have some) and family members, OTOH, never seem to hold Rethugs accountable for anything. They just want to BLAME everything that doesn't work out so hot on Dems.
I, too, have lots of issues w/TARP, and I don't hold Barney Frank blameless, but really the bulk of it was done under Bush. Frankly, the Dems had a LOT more caveats & regulations in TARP that BUSH took out, simplified and made it easy for his BUDDIES on Wall ST to give themselves lots of stimulating bonuses and such.
Please! Spare me rightards whining about Barney unless or until they clean up their own house first.
To all you folks that think Barney and his cohorts are just victimized folks consider the following "trivial" facts...
Barney's ex-lover Herb Moses is actually a part-time escort and porn film actor in Orange Co. CA. To find out if this is accurate then check out the following site:
http://www.pantheonmen.com/products/Real_Couples-27-6.html. He goes by the name of Mike (alias: Muscle Mike in other productions) with his current lover Alvaro Cajina. He has appeared in many videos.
Now, this is the type of guy that Barney Frank associated with.
BTW - his escort profile is listed at http://www.studfiles.com/ca043.html and his current lover's is http://www.studfiles.com/ca038.html. The ads are several years old but when calling Al's number it connects you to him.
So why did I research this - because something is rotten in Denmark and his name is Barfy Frag.
@ Anon
And? Barney Frank was associated with a person who now participates in a legal business making adult movies. He admitted to paying him for sex at one time and was censured for his actions. What's your point?
You seem to care an awful lot about the sex lives of other people.
Who is Barney Frank?
It's me, I'm Barney Frank.
To the Anon post pointing out Barney Frank's alleged association w/ a male escort (don't have time to check it out to see if that's even factual, which it may not be): OH please!
So we saw that Larry Craig was trying to pick up sexual partners in a bathroom, but that's all A-OK bc it's ok if you're a republican.
and James Dale Guckert was paid by Republicans to "pose" as a "reporter" named Jeff Gannon, so that he could feed friendly questions to George W. Bush on Jan 26 2005. He was exposed, but Republicans acted as if there was nothing wrong.
Spare me your moralizing. I don't really care if Barney Frank had a partner who in the "adult entertainment" industry. It simply doesn't matter.
Maybe if you listened to your own repressed sexual feelings and acted appropriately on them, you wouldn't be so judgemental and morally outraged by other gays.
If you idiots have the time to read the blog and comment then you have the time to verify the facts... I know both of them very well... I'm sure Herb's bosses at Wells Fargo had a lot to say also cuz he's no longer there... furthermore I know I'm bi so don't go attacking me chickens... so now go take care of your own sexual frustrations cuz I don't need to smell them
I hate to say this but the anon poster who points out Barney's association with a gay male actor and escort, Herb Moses, does shed some light on his influence on Herb.
Additionally, please note that ex-Senator Craig as well as other Repulicans have been forced out of office because of their acts. And yet, Barney stands in Congress with a very checkered past and all he gets is a censor.
Based on this, I would say that there exists a double standard and that Republicans do pay a higher price.
Finally, when one expresses their morality we should not attack it... I don't believe any of us has moral authority.
Being an Independent does have its advantages...
You are no independent, you right-wing shill.
The difference is that Dems don't act all holier-than-thou like Repukelicans do. Even as right-wingers lie, they act like god's prophets.
They pay a higher price? Please.
Stop apologizing for these hypocritical bastards.
To All Teh Nitwits Up Above:
Gack!
You didn't actually read past the 2nd paragraph, did you? I saw right field coming up fast, and I bailed when I scrolled down several paragraphs of what could only turn into a whole bunch of crazee.
Shit. Your comments were silly enuf to make up for the nonsense I scrolled past. thxbai
Yeah, because Larry Craig, Newt Gingrich, John Ensign, David Vitter, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and Mark Sanford have all totally suffered so much as a result of their indiscretions.
Way to police yourselves, rethugs!
This e-mail would have a lot more credibility (maybe not a lot total, but certainly a lot MORE) if it had laid off the ongoing gay = bad/immoral. The writer seems to imply that everything Frank has done is caused/implied by that fact, and that is about the stupidest thing I have read today (and I was a couple of days behind on checking this site).
Since "not verifying the facts" seems to be thrown around with this one:
Barney Frank was never censured. He was never expelled. The investigation found no evidence he had been inappropriately influenced by Moses. However, he was rebuked for using his influence to clear up Moses' parking tickets.
However, they broke off their relationship when Frank discovered Moses' prostitution activities in his home, and Moses left Fannie Mae in 1998. Even in the '90s, Republicans had control of both branches of Congress, and they maintained control until 2006. I can't find the membership list for the '90s, but during the early 2000s, the committee was chaired by Republicans.
All that is not to say Frank didn't help exacerbate the looming crisis during the fat years, but Republicans held all the power, and they were hell-bent on deregulation, then and now.
If he had a gay spat in the middle of all that, well, the Democrats aren't the party to permanently destroy his career over it.
The main thing is that Republicans have acted holier than thou and politicians, such as Mark Sanford, John Ensign and Chip Pickering, were quick off the mark to shriek that Clinton should be impeached (this is before the infamous trial). Both Sanford & Ensign are on record saying that if they were busted in similar circumstances, they would resign. Now we see that Mark Sanford & John Ensign pretty much refuse to resign when they are caught.
Chip Pickering did resign when he was busted, but then he left his wife and married his mistress. Now so "coveniently" he happens to be a big-time lobbiest for Bell South, which, gosh, golly gee whiz is owned by his new wife's family. Awww, how sweet it is, cha-ching$$$$! And gee whiz, I simply just "know" that Chip wasn't unduly influenced by his mistress whilst in office (much). Of course: no investigation into that, was there???
THIS is what infuriates me. I could care less who sleeps w/whom & when, but I am so DONE with conservatives shrieking and pointing fingers at Democrats (flawed as they are) when they stray sexually. Who cares, UNLESS there are other extenuating circumstances.
Eliot Spitzer? Yeah I wanted him to resign bc he was doing prostitutes whilst running some kind of investigation into them. Hypocrit much? But look: he resigned immediately. No contest.
Mark Sanford: I don't really care that he was poking some broad in Argentina, but he left his office for 10 days (original plans) leaving no one in charge and telling no one where he was. I see that as a derelection of duty. Yet I see no Republicans saying word one about this. It's all: oh move along folks, nothing to see here. Plus there are now allegations that Sanford misused public funds to go on his little junkets overseas. Please. If Sanford was a Democrat, the GOP would be going nuts 24/7.
John Ensign: there are potential issues of sexual harassment given that his mistress worked for him and then got fired. Plus there is some financial shenanigans going on with his parents buying her off to the tune of $96k, but some of that money is allegedly severance "pay". Yet he is running again for Senate, and his "C Street" buddies see nothing wrong w/that bc I guess John Ensign prayed w/the RIGHT folks in the designated fashion, so all is now forgiven. Please!
The hypocracy is too much. And we could go on. Newt Gingrich dumps his wife while she's literally coming out of cancer surgery, and he's been having the affair while married. Newtie-boy was another one shrieking at Clinton, WHILE he was doing exactly the same thing.
Then there's Mark Foley who was "doing" underage pages whilst a Senator. Yeah, he got busted and is no longer in office, but it took a lot to get him out of there, and I certainly didn't see the rightwing outrage that was aimed at Clinton.
It's called a DOUBLE STANDARD.
Yes, sometimes Republicans can be heaved out of office, but certainly not always.
And the recent cases of Mark Sanford and John Ensign say it all.
Republican hypocracy at it's finest.
Until you can actually prove to me that Barney Frank's gay relationship actually affected his work performance in some way, or that he was being unduly influenced or whatever, then STFU!
This forward was sent out simply to discredit Frank bc he is gay. It is written in a tone dripping with moral hypocracy, and I'm sick of it.
The posters who defend it or natter on w/some b.s. about how the forward is "honest" or whatever are full of it.
Please: clean up your own party first before you come around to diss the opposition. Then we can talk.
LMAO... you liberal freaks are hilarious... just b/c I'm not ridiculously liberal does not mean I believe in the Repub party... now I totally understand what ignorance means when I read your VERY left-wing posts.... God, you're a bunch of stups...
As for the poster who said Barney was not censored in Congress and that he was found innocent of fixing Moses tickets... YOU ARE RIGHT b/c it wasn't Herb Moses but instead Stephen Gobie who Barney fixed tickets for a allowed him to run a escort sting out of his capial apt. Geez, what a stupid, uninformed idiot you are...
As for the repubs running around believing they are a holier than thou group... all I can say is that you should probably examine your own issues b4 passing judgment... afterall you are more than likely viewing yourself as holier... like holier in the head.
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