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CHRIS JOHNSON
Friday, October 03, 2008
As
stocks
fluctuate
on
Wall
Street
and
financial
institutions
collapse,
the
nation’s
eyes
have
been
on
the
only
openly
gay
man
in
Congress
this
week
as
he
helped
lead
efforts
to
contain
the
financial
crisis.
Rep.
Barney
Frank
(D-Mass.)
is
chair
of
the
House
Financial
Services
Committee
and
one
of
the
key
lawmakers
that
worked
on
a
proposed
$700
billion
effort
to
relieve
the
crisis.
But
while
Frank
and
other
congressional
leaders
announced
last
weekend
that
lawmakers
had
come
to
agreement
on
the
buyout
legislation,
the
House
rejected
the
bill
Monday,
228-205.
At
Blade
deadline,
no
legislation
addressing
the
financial
crisis
had
passed
either
chamber
of
Congress.
Dan
Pinello,
a
gay
City
Univ-ersity
of
New
York
government
professor,
said
Frank’s
role
in
tackling
the
crisis
has
given
him
considerable
attention.
“He’s,
at
the
moment,
probably
one
of
the
better
known
members
of
Congress
who
wouldn’t
otherwise
be
all
that
well-known
except
for
this
extraordinary
event,”
he
said.
Bruce
Seaman,
a
gay
Georgia
State
University
economics
professor,
said
Frank
has
reached
across
the
aisle
and
been
“a
coherent
and
very
informed
spokesman
on
economic
issues
for
Democrats.”
“His
basic
economic
philosophy
is
pragmatic
—
clearly
understanding
the
vitality
of
free
markets
and
decentralized
decision-making,
but
recognizing
the
importance
of
sensible
regulatory
constraints,”
Seaman
said.
Citing
Frank’s
opinion
piece
on
the
housing
crisis
published
March
9
in
the
Washington
Post,
Seaman
said
Frank
had
been
viewed
as
“being
too
eager
to
throw
federal
money
at
the
problem,”
but
in
retrospect
his
warning
from
earlier
this
year
“looks
remarkably
prescient.”
Pinello
noted,
however,
that
to
evaluate
Frank’s
performance
based
on
the
House
bill
that
foundered
Monday
would
suggest
that
Frank
has
not
been
effective.
“Did
they
accomplish
want
they
wanted
to
achieve?”
Pinello
said.
“Clearly
that
didn’t
happen
in
the
House
of
Representatives.”
Seaman
also
said
Frank
and
other
lawmakers
have
been
criticized
for
their
relationship
with
mortgage
lenders
Fannie
Mae
and
Freddie
Mac,
which
were
placed
under
federal
control
last
month.
“Barney
Frank
(and
other
Democrats)
have
been
criticized
for
having
been
too
close
to
Fannie
Mae
and
Freddie
Mac
and
failing
to
fully
appreciate
and
limit
the
excessive
risks
they
were
taking
in
quest
of
the
goal
of
expanded
home
ownership
in
the
U.S.,”
Seaman
said.
Pinello
also
questioned
whether
Frank’s
caustic
wit
and
abrasive
personality
was
a
factor
in
lawmakers
voting
down
Monday
the
proposed
legislation.
“Some
people
are
saying
Barney
Frank’s
sense
of
humor
was
inappropriately
used
at
some
points,”
he
said.
“It
had
the
effect
of
antagonizing
people
who
ended
up
voting
against
the
bill.”
Frank
has
made
a
number
of
quips
in
the
past
month
about
those
he
said
have
contributed
to
the
financial
crisis.
The
lawmaker
criticized
some
Republicans
at
a
news
conference
Monday
after
the
House
bill
failed,
citing
speculation
that
12
House
Republicans
voted
against
the
measure
because
House
Speaker
Nancy
Pelosi
railed
against
the
“failed
economic
leadership”
of
the
past
eight
years.
“I’ll
make
an
offer,”
Frank
said.
“Give
me
those
12
people’s
names
and
I
will
go
talk
uncharacteristically
nicely
to
them
and
tell
them
what
wonderful
people
they
are
and
maybe
they’ll
now
think
about
the
country.”
Pinello
said
that
Frank’s
comments
“might
have
all
been
just
an
excuse”
for
House
Republicans
to
vote
against
legislation
and
“they
would
have
come
up
with
something
else
otherwise
if
that
hadn’t
occurred.”
Pinello
said
Frank
has
“not
necessarily”
acted
in
a
partisan
manner
in
trying
to
get
legislation
passed.
“He
did
take
on
a
Republican
bill
that
came
from
a
Republican
White
House
…
and
made
it,
after
modifications
of
course,
his
own,
in
a
way,”
Pinello
said.
“So
it
wasn’t
certainly
absolutely
partisan.”
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