[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
United States News Title: The Education of Barney Frank Political competition is a wonderful thing. To wit, it is even making a more honest politician out of Barney Frank—well, sort of. Mr. Frank is facing his first serious electoral challenge since 1980 from Marine officer and business executive Sean Bielat, and the liberal baron is making some remarkable concessions to the public mood. For example, he seems newly sympathetic to the plight of small business, saying that he now favors repealing ObamaCare's infamous new Form 1099 reporting requirements for detailing purchases with any contractor above $600. Mr. Bielat has been hammering away on the issue since Democrats in Congress have refused to repeal the provision, but Mr. Frank now calls it "a mistake" and claims he's "determined" to ensure that Congress repeals it. Also in the Political Wonders Department, Mr. Frank is conceding at long last that he missed the looming disasters at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. "I was late in seeing it, no question," he told the Boston Globe, though in his redoubtable fashion he also has an excuse. According to the Globe, Mr. Frank "said in an interview he missed the warning signs because he was wearing ideological blinders. He said he had worried that Republican lawmakers and the Bush administration were going after Fannie and Freddie for their own ideological reasons and would curtail the lenders' mission of providing affordable housing." We'll see what voters think of this Bush's-support-for-reform-made-Barney-oppose-it explanation. Tim Phillips, President of Americans for Prosperity, breaks down the battle for control of the House and Senate, and OpinionJournal.com Assistant Editor Allysia Finley reviews the most entertaining campaign ads of the week. Mr. Frank is also being forced to explain his taste for private luxury transportation. The Boston Herald reports that Mr. Frank and his domestic partner travelled to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands last winter on a private jet owned by hedge-fund operator Donald Sussman. Mr. Sussman is the fiancé of Representative Chellie Pingree (D., Maine), who was also aboard. The House ethics committee approved Mr. Frank's acceptance of the free trip because of "the relationship between Representative Pingree and Mr. Sussman," according to a December 18, 2009 letter to Mr. Frank from ethics committee Chairman Zoe Lofgren and ranking member Jo Bonner. Normally, Mr. Frank would never be permitted to accept such a gift, but Members are allowed to accept gifts from other Members. So the committee classified the gift from Ms. Pingree's boyfriend as a gift from Ms. Pingree herself: "the Committee deems this an unusual case in which it would be appropriate to grant a waiver of the gift rule under House rule 25, clause 5(a)(3)(T)." That was certainly accommodating of the ethicists, but the committee may have made an even larger accommodation without even realizing it. Mr. Frank has been using the committee's waiver to justify his behavior, but in seeking the waiver, what did Mr. Frank tell the committee? Nowhere in the letter is there any reference to Mr. Sussman's work in the financial services industry. Yet Mr. Frank was at that very moment drafting a reform of the financial industry, including hedge funds. We asked Mr. Frank's office for his letter to the committee but didn't receive it before our deadline Thursday. We assume the press corps and Mr. Bielat will want to follow up.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread |
|
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|