Barney Frank: Why Does This Man Still Have A Job?!?

Isn't it amazing how some individuals in our society manage to keep their jobs?  Barney Frank, democratic representative of Massachussetts,  is one of those.  How his past actions have not landed him in jail, if not at the very least kicked out of office, is mind-boggling.

First, let's start with Frank's run-in with the law 20 years ago when he admitted to patronizing a male prostitute.  According to Time:

After an initial encounter in which he paid Steve Gobie $80 for sex, the Congressman says he tried to lift the younger man out of drugs and prostitution by hiring him to run errands. He wrote letters to Gobie's probation officer and paid his psychiatric bills. He allowed Gobie the use of a car and sometimes his apartment when he was out of town.

After 18 months, Frank says, he dismissed Gobie upon discovering that he was bringing clients to Frank's apartment. Two years later, Gobie tried unsuccessfully to sell his story to the Washington Post. He then gave the story to the Washington Times for nothing, in hopes of getting a book contract for the male version of The Mayflower Madam. This week Gobie will appear on Geraldo, discussing his prospects for a television mini-series.

Then, there are questions surrounding Frank's possible ties to the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae debaucle.  Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe assesses the situation thusly:

Frank doesn't. But his fingerprints are all over this fiasco. Time and time again, Frank insisted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in good shape. Five years ago, for example, when the Bush administration proposed much tighter regulation of the two companies, Frank was adamant that "these two entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not facing any kind of financial crisis." When the White House warned of "systemic risk for our financial system" unless the mortgage giants were curbed, Frank complained that the administration was more concerned about financial safety than about housing.

Now that the bubble has burst and the "systemic risk" is apparent to all, Frank blithely declares: "The private sector got us into this mess." Well, give the congressman points for gall. Wall Street and private lenders have plenty to answer for, but it was Washington and the political class that derailed this train. If Frank is looking for a culprit to blame, he can find one suspect in the nearest mirror.

Shortly after the economic breakdown, Frank's partner, a Fannie Mae executive, came under suspicion of pushing to relax lending restrictions [source]:

Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank's relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie.

Both Frank and Moses assured the Wall Street Journal in 1992 that they took pains to avoid any conflicts of interest. Critics, however, remain skeptical.

"It’s absolutely a conflict," said Dan Gainor, vice president of the Business & Media Institute. "He was voting on Fannie Mae at a time when he was involved with a Fannie Mae executive. How is that not germane?

"If this had been his ex-wife and he was Republican, I would bet every penny I have - or at least what’s not in the stock markets - that this would be considered germane," added Gainor, a T. Boone Pickens Fellow. "But everybody wants to avoid it because he’s gay. It’s the quintessential double standard."


A top GOP House aide agreed.

"C’mon, he writes housing and banking laws and his boyfriend is a top exec at a firm that stands to gain from those laws?" the aide told FOX News. "No media ever takes note? Imagine what would happen if Frank’s political affiliation was R instead of D? Imagine what the media would say if [GOP former] Chairman [Mike] Oxley’s wife or [GOP presidential nominee John] McCain’s wife was a top exec at Fannie for a decade while they wrote the nation’s housing and banking laws."

Frank’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Frank met Moses in 1987, the same year he became the first openly gay member of Congress.

"I am the only member of the congressional gay spouse caucus," Moses wrote in the Washington Post in 1991. "On Capitol Hill, Barney always introduces me as his lover."

The two lived together in a Washington home until they broke up in 1998, a few months after Moses ended his seven-year tenure at Fannie Mae, where he was the assistant director of product initiatives. According to National Mortgage News, Moses "helped develop many of Fannie Mae’s affordable housing and home improvement lending programs."

Speaking of his former partner, on Friday it was reported on Friday that Frank was present when his parrtner Ready was busted for possession of marijuana and it cultivation.  Here's the story from the Fox affiliate in Boston:

Barney Frank Present During Marijuana Bust

BOSTON (FOX25, myfoxboston) - FOX25 has learned that Congressman Barney Frank was present during a marijuana arrest at James Ready's home in Ogunquit, Maine.  Ready is well-known for his relationship with Congressman Frank.

According to a police report, police charged Ready with marijuana possession, cultivation and use of drug paraphernalia in August of 2007.  Ready admitted to civil possession and paid a fine.  The remaining charges were dismissed in 2008.

Sources tell FOX25 that when Frank was questioned he told police that he did not live in the house and that he only smoked cigars.

Congressman Frank tells FOX25 that he was surprised and disappointed with what police found.  He also tells us that he wouldn't recognize a marijuana plant if he saw one because he is, "not a great outdoorsman," and ,"wouldn't recognize most plants."

Frank was not charged in the arrest of Ready.  Coincidentally,  Frank is the author of a medical marijuana bill that would outlaw the prosecution of persons who use marijuana for medicinal purposes.  [Source]

What about, at the very least, the mean-spirited, nasty and immature manner in which Frank interacts with constituents and fellow politicians?  First, there was the snotty way he addressed a woman at one of his townhall meetings over the summer.  Here's a video of Frank's infamous run-in with a townhall protester last summer::

Then, this weekend as Congress wrestles with the health care bill, Frank had the nerve to make a cheap shot at Rep. Bachmann and ObamaCare protesters outside [source]:

Democratic Rep. Barney Frank took a dig Friday at the Republican lawmaker who organized a protest by conservatives against health care legislation.

Frank, a Massachusetts liberal, told an audience: "Some of the people (at the rally) that wanted to engage me in conversation appeared to have been the losers in the 'Are you smarter than Michele Bachmann contest?"

I guess I shouldn't be shocked.  Look at Ted Kennedy -- the poster child of a life lived without consequences.