Longtime Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., announced Monday he is not seeking re-election, saying that redistricting has made it too strenuous to continue to campaign.

The 16-term lawmaker, whose name is emblazoned on the banking reform law that passed Congress last year, had long been rumored to be ready for retirement. He said Monday that he actually decided "tentatively" to retire after passage of the law, serving out one more term, but when Republicans won the 2010 midterm he decided he didn't want to be a lame duck so didn't announce his plans until now.


Frank said he now wants to do some combination of writing, teaching and lecturing, but will not become a lobbyist.

One of the best parts of retiring is "I don't have to pretend to be nice to people I don't like," he said, adding that he will continue to be an advocate of public policy, for instance, on gay rights issues and debating the Defense of Marriage Act against opponents like former House Speaker and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.

Feeling more unleashed than usual, Frank also said he found it striking that so many Republicans would consider Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, as their nominee since he flip-flops.

"He would be the best thing to happen to the Democratic Party since Barry Goldwater," Frank said.

Frank was previously chairman of the House Financial Services Committee but is now ranking member since Democrats lost the majority in the 2010 midterm election. The Dodd-Frank law, a contentious set of provisions that Republicans say add layers of regulatory burdens without preventing potential future meltdowns, was made in response to the near collapse of the banking industry in 2008. Among other actions, it created a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to oversee access to banking products and required listing ratios of executive pay to median employee salaries.

Frank acknowledged that the financial fallout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's near collapse came as a surprise.

"I, like many others, did not see the crisis coming," he said, going into a long disposition about how in 2005 he did try to get legislation passed to prevent unqualified homeowners from getting loans, but was stopped by then-House Majority Leader Tom Delay, R-Texas.

"When Tom DeLay ran the House, the majority did not have much to say so until 2007, I had virtually no impact," Frank said, adding that the first bill he passed when he became chairman of the Financial Service Committee was regulated Fannie and Freddie. He said his actions were then excoriated by The Wall Street Journal and others.

Frank, 71, was first elected to the House in 1980, and is one of the first lawmakers to announce he is homosexual.

"Barney Frank has exemplified true leadership over his more than 30 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, said Joe Solmonese, outgoing president of Human Rights Campaign and a former campaign staffer for Frank. "As the first openly gay member of Congress, Barney defied stereotypes and kicked doors open for LGBT Americans. Repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell' and passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act would never have happened without his leadership. ... America, Massachusetts and LGBT people are better off for Barney Frank's service."

Frank's tenure hasn't been without scandal. More than two decades ago, the lawmaker was reprimanded by the House for using his congressional status on behalf of a male prostitute whom he had employed as a personal aide, including seeking dismissal of 33 parking tickets.

"I should have known better. I do now, but it's a little too late," Frank said at the time.

Republicans made a valiant effort to knock off Frank in the last election cycle, nominating Sean Bielat, a 35-year-old businessman and former U.S. Marine, who had made waves, but had little chance of knocking off a powerful incumbent in a strongly Democratic leaning district.

President Obama won 61 percent of the vote there in 2008. Sen. John Kerry, the home state senator who ran for president in 2004, pulled in 62 percent in the district.

Frank is now the 17th House Democrat to flat-out retire or step aside to seek other office. Republicans have announced seven retirements this cycle. He is also the second House Democrat to announce his retirement in three days and the second Massachusetts Democrat to say he's stepping down. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez of Texas announced his retirement over the weekend. Rep. John Olver decided a few weeks ago not to run for another term.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/28/barney-frank-to-announce-retirement/#ixzz1f207QsNv

He should be in jail for his participation in covering up the massive clusterf**k that was going on at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac..

The fact that he was re elected after lying about their solvency shows just how stupid voters actually are.

He should have been in jail for running the brothel out of his apartment or fixing his felon boyfriends 33 parking tickets........

He should be in jail, period.

Business as usual. His part in the corruption is minuscule compared to most. If you put all of the politicians in jail, we wouldn't have much of a government at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5NrqqK60OI

A great music video!

It was because he was going to retire anyway, lost a favorite port town in redistricting and had a tough race last time.

Was this really why Congressman Barney Frank announced today he’s retiring from the House of Representatives?

Perhaps another reason was he’s no longer chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and like a lot of bullies, Mr. Frank found it’s not easy to be stripped of the power to torment and humiliate others.


Brilliant, but acid tongued and generally unpleasant, Mr. Frank ruled with an iron gavel, ran over critics with delight and treated committee members and especially Republican colleagues as lesser forms of life.

Mr. Frank’s departure in January 2013 will remove from the House one of its more offensive members. Until then, this petulant, abrasive and downright nasty Congressman will keep making his presence known.

However, it is unlikely that Mr. Frank is leaving for the reason he should depart Congress: out of shame for all he did to stop reform of Fannie and Freddie while there was still time to avert the disaster that almost took down the American economy.

In 2003, he called Fannie and Freddie “fundamentally sound financially” and accused the Bush Administration of trying to “exaggerate a threat of safety… [to] conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see."

A year later, he said talk of financial problems at Fannie and Freddie were “an artificial issue created by the administration...I don't think we are in any remote danger here."

In 2007, as Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and just as Fannie and Freddie – overleveraged and stuffed to the gills with risky mortgages they’d encouraged and facilitated – were about to go over the cliff, Mr. Frank attacked President George W. Bush’s call for reform as “inane.”

Yet when Fannie and Freddie went belly up in the fall of 2008, Mr. Frank voted for the same Bush Administration reforms that could have averted the bankruptcies of Fannie and Freddie.

Why did Mr. Frank oppose giving these two gigantic financial institutions the same scrutiny as a local bank, a neighborhood savings and loan or a community credit union?

Fannie and Freddie provided “grease” for the Democratic political machine through hundreds of millions in charitable contributions to left wing community and advocacy groups that are critical to Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts.

Fannie and Freddie hired vast armies of influence peddlers – admittedly from both parties, but mostly Democrats – to forestall any efforts at reasonable regulation.

Fannie and, to a lesser extent, Freddie, were led by Democratic political power brokers, masquerading as mortgage bankers while advising Democratic presidents, vetting Democratic running mates, and plumping the election hopes of Congressional Democrats.

Mr. Frank is incapable of feeling shame, regret or a sense of personal responsibility. These are emotions for lesser beings. He’s leaving because of redistricting or to avoid having to raise money or facing those nasty little voters every two years. The House will be a better place for his departure.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/11/28/real-reason-barney-frank-should-quit/#ixzz1f3rAXSjY