Barney Frank

Holding Congressman Barney Frank’s Feet To The Fire

It is important to call each and every politician, regardless of party affiliation, on any wrong doings they may be a part of. Americans must remember that Congressmen are elected by we the people, and are answerable to us for their actions or lack thereof.

Barney Frank is Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. I think its important to understand who it is that we are talking about and what motivates him in his decisions. This is a quote from that committee’s website financialservices.house.gov:

“The Committee oversees all components of the nation’s housing and financial services sectors including banking, insurance, real estate, public and assisted housing, and securities. The Committee continually reviews the laws and programs relating to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and international development and finance agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.”

So with that description, it is clear that this committee oversees laws and policy that governs financial aspects of our nation. Now as I have stated before Barney Frank servers as Chairman of that committee, and with that position comes power to influence it, control it, and limit debate on issues. So in that position he holds a large amount of power over the United States financial policy. (To see an example of Barney Frank exercising and abusing his power, please look at the brief video below and description.)

Facts concerning what is being talked about in the previous video as of October 2008:

• Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s home district includes San Francisco.
• Star-Kist Tuna’s headquarters are in San Francisco, Pelosi’s home district.
• Star-Kist is owned by Del Monte Foods and is a major contributor to Pelosi.
• Star-Kist is the major employer in American Samoa employing 75% of the Samoan workforce.
• Paul Pelosi, Nancy’s husband, owns $17 million dollars of Star-Kist stock.
• In January, 2007 when the minimum wage was increased from $5.15 to $7.25, Pelosi had American Samoa exempted from the increase so Del Monte would not have to pay the higher wage. This would make Del Monte products less expensive than their competition’s.
• In October 2008, when the huge bailout bill was passed, Pelosi added an earmark to the final bill adding $33 million dollars for an ‘economic development credit in American Samoa’ that is available to companies operating there.

-Source

With the understanding of Barney Frank’s influence on the House Financial Services Committee, lets look at what industry sectors made financial contributions to him and his political campaign. These numbers were taken from documents released by Barney Frank’s 2007 - 2008 political campaign and are located at OpenSecrets.org.

• Securities & Investment $236,500
• Real Estate $221,351
• Insurance $202,548
• Lawyers/Law Firms $187,728
• Commercial Banks $120,950
• Misc Finance $85,900
• Accountants $74,150

Also Fannie and Freddie Mac’s contributions to Barney Frank as seen at OpenSecrets.org

• Frank, Barney D-MA $40,100

Now I ask you, can a congressman that accepts such contributions as these be trusted with overseeing a committee that serves as an oversight committee to the financial policies of our nation? Can no one else see that these contributors, despite what you may be told by the contributors and even Frank himself, are buying Frank’s influence?

It is important that American citizens hold our elected representatives accountable for what they have done. They created the situation that we are in. The video below is an example of what we all should be doing to our congressmen.