

“Now, some of you may not think I’ve been good at it, but I’ve been trying and the notion of being a lobbyist and having to go and try to be nice to people I don’t like would be ridiculous.”
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46450210/GettyImages-466615282.0.jpg)
“One of the advantages to me of not running for office is I don’t even have to pretend to try to be nice to people I don’t like,” Frank said, drawing laughter. He often dismisses reporters’ questions with disdain, has a quick wit, and is known to verbally joust with colleagues. The law has been pilloried by Republicans as Washington overreach.įrank is noted on Capitol Hill for his unkempt appearance, often untucked shirttails and pugnacious speaking style. It also enacted a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect Americans from large corporations. The Wall Street reform bill – known as “Dodd-Frank” – placed tough new rules on the financial sector as a way to avoid future mortgage crises. Chris Dodd, have their names attached to a sweeping Wall Street reform bill passed through Congress and signed into law by President Obama in 2010.ĭodd resigned in 2010 rather than face a tough reelection fight. history.įrank was instrumental in ushering the Wall Street bailout through Congress in 2008. The Massachusetts congressman chaired the House Financial Services Committee when Democrats were in the majority from early 2007 until early 2011, becoming the main House Democrat overseeing the financial industry during one of the most turbulent economic eras of U.S. It didn’t happen in a clean sweep, but when I volunteered finally to come out in 1987, I do think it was helpful.”įrank survived scandal to become one of the most powerful Democrats on Capitol Hill during more than 30 years in office. “I am proud by my finally coming out – I was 47. “The best antidote to prejudice is reality because prejudice by definition is based on ignorance,” Frank said.
Barney frank male prostitute series#
Starting on a series of projects only to be passing them along in various stages of incompletion to a successor two years later is not a responsible way to act.”įrank became the member of Congress to come out as gay six years after he first took office, coming out in 1987 and breaking an important barrier in American politics.Īsked what sort of legacy he hoped to leave behind in Congress, Frank said that “people should leave their legacies to other people to describe,” but admitted that his coming out will likely highlight his career. “I would be asking 325,000 new constituents to give me the mandate to be their advocate with the federal government for only two years. “I don’t want to be torn between a full-fledged campaign in a district with 325,000 new people, and my obligation to the existing constituents,” Frank said. ”I do not choose to run for Congress in 2012.”įrank said he believes that if he had decided to run he would have won in 2012, but the challenges created by redistricting proved not to be worth an attempt to extend his tenure for two more years.
Barney frank male prostitute full#
I have to choose between fulfilling my obligation as a ranking member of the Financial Services Committee on behalf of financial reform and my responsibility to continue to be a full representative of the people who voted for me in 2010,” Frank said in a statement to reporters in Newton, Mass. Barney Frank, the first serving member of Congress to come out as gay and a powerful Democrat whose name is attached to the sweeping Wall Street reform bill, announced today that he will not seek reelection in 2012.
