Barney Frank
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Barney Frank (1940–) was a Representative from Massachusetts and chairman of the Finance Committee, as well as the longest serving openly gay member of Congress. He once considered becoming the Senator from Massachusetts after John Kerry became Secretary of State), but was passed over by the Governor.[citation needed]
Moreover, despite his status as a liberal icon, he was often cited by Republicans as their favorite Democrat due to his constant professionalism and workhorse attitude.[citation needed]
In 1985 Frank got involved with a male prostitute and eventually had him move in, but kicked him out two years later after finding out he had continued escort services at Frank's residence.[citation needed] Due to the prostitute's subsequent wild accusations Frank asked the House Ethics Committee to look into it and they cleared him of illegal activity, only reprimanding him for helping clear parking tickets and covering up the prostitute's criminal record.[citation needed] Ironically, the one leading the charge was none other than Larry Craig, who Frank quite unsurprisingly called a hypocrite in 2007.[citation needed]
In January 2012, Frank announced that he would not run for reelection and would be stepping down in 2013, citing redistricting in Boston that lessened his chances of winning. He married his partner, James Ready.
His lowest moment[edit]
As one half of the Dodd-Frank reform bill, Barney himself is rather... not progressive on the issue of the big banks. Despite helping to write it in Dodd-Frank that the Big Banks can be broken up, Barney himself insists that the banks are not too big to fail and should not be broken up, completely contradicting himself.[1] Even on a logistical and technical side, Dodd-Frank itself doesn't even address the heart of the issue - the big banks must be broken up, and they have not, thereby branding Dodd-Frank as a failure. Of course, instead of manning up, he instead blames the Republicans for his failure.[2] Earlier, he said taking legal bribes from Wall Street made him a better person, and he tried to push that as a way to eschew any further changes to a thoroughly corrupt system that he happens to benefit from.[3] Hell, he's even at the head of a bank that's already been facing issues with corruption.[4]
His greatest moment[edit]
How do you respond to absolute dumbfucks that compare trying to give poor Americans some sort of health insurance to Adolf Hitler? Listen to Frank: