Yeah I know that post title makes me an awful person, and its really not original, but bear with me as I explain just how clever the title really is. For you see, Barney Frank is indeed going down in at least two different ways, and maybe even three.
Granted, the first one is an assumption as to his own personal peccadilloes, but lets assume its a given that he has, maybe is at any given time, and at some point in the future is likely to go down. I wouldn't care about that, except for the simple obvious fact that it is not only a reflection of who Barney Frank is and the kind of person he is-it has affected his overall judgment and defines his ethics as a member of the House of Representatives, a position he has held for going on thirty years.
As the first openly gay member of Congress, Frank came close to being kicked out of the House for engaging in an affair with a male prostitute named Steve Gobi, who ran a brothel out of the basement of Frank's Washington home. Frank got out of a jam over the affair by simply feigning ignorance, but there was no denying the myriads of strings he pulled on behalf of his then male lover, running the gamut from fixing parking tickets (more than thirty of them) to interceding on his behalf with the man's probation officer.
Only in the Democratic Party could an office-holder parlay such a history into power as a committee chairman, but in Franks case, his ultimate triumph over adversity seems to have paved the way for what has followed since. Over time, he eventually became Chairman of the Financial Services Committee.
By the time of the advent of the Clinton presidency, Frank had begun a relationship with a man named Herb Moses, who was a high-powered executive of Fannie Mae, a company that, along with Freddie Mac, Frank had a good deal of influence over. He interceded on their behalf numerous times throughout both the Clinton and Bush eras, and though his relationship ended in the late nineties, Frank still maintained close connections to the company, in addition to Freddie Mac, and received a great amount of money from them in the way of campaign donations, even though Frank's committee was charged with overseeing both of these companies.
Yet all the while, Frank was at the forefront of resisting any calls to more closely regulate and monitor the two companies activities, insisting that they had no problems that warranted any undue federal oversight over and above what was already established.
In effect, Frank not only set the stage for the housing bubble and subsequent crash that followed, he was to all practical intents and purposes, one of the main architects of the disaster.
Let's be clear about this-Frank was not the lone offender here, but he was certainly one of the most powerful and influential members of Congress involved in the debacle. Even former President Clinton said as much.
That Frank's action's leading to the collapse of the housing market are criminal, and actionable, is almost beyond dispute, and he knows it. Which would probably explain his unusual actions over the last few weeks. He has so far engaged in five debates with his opponent, Sean Bielat, who has actually raised more money than Frank in the last three weeks. Ordinarily, Frank would not be concerned enough to engage in more than maybe one obligatory show debate, if that, but five?
Even though Bielat more than likely will not defeat Frank, who typically wins re-election by well over twenty-five percentage points, he may well do enough to register as a decent opponent. I would not be surprised if he were defeated by a mere five or six points. But I am not getting my hopes up too greatly that he will win, and I find it hard to believe that Frank is inordinately worried about such a prospect.
But, Frank is worried about something.
In one debate, it came out that Frank and his current boyfriend were flown by jet to a island resort owned by a man big in the securities market, which of course Frank's committee is supposed to oversee. Of course he denied a conflict of interest, but the story is now out at any rate.
Then, in what has to be one of the most bizarre incidents of this or any campaign season (and that's really saying something) Sean Bielat, in the course of a local interview, was verbally harassed by a man holding a camera to his face who told him "you're not funny".
The man turned out to be-Barney Frank's boyfriend.
Below is a video of the incident.
Such behavior can only mean one thing. Frank knows that, even if he does win re-election, he is going to be returning to a house with an entirely different made-up from the one he knows now. He's not merely going to be a minority member of a House of Representatives with an overwhelming Republican majority, but many of those members are going to be Tea-Party Republicans-and they are going to be out for blood. And Barney Frank is already saddled with, ironically, a great big target on his ass.
For now, the least he can do-really the only thing he can do-is try to get out in front of it while he has a chance, try to make his case and possibly set up some kind of way out. Right now, I can't think of any other reason for this kind of oddball public behavior.
Despite these and whatever other desperate tactics he might try to cover his ass, or to excuse his past actions, he could very well, and more than likely will, find himself the object of a House Ethics investigation that in all likelihood will lead to his censure, possibly his expulsion from the House, and maybe even a prosecution somewhere down the line.
So yes, indeed, Barney Frank could very well go down, and maybe even spend the remainder of his years in prison orange, an old queen in a cell of his own making.
But hey-this is Barney Frank. I'm sure he'll figure out a way, as usual, to make the best of a bad situation.
