Barney Frank deserves a ton of blame for his unrelenting defence of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which have massively contributed to the sub prime mortgage crisis and the overall economic recession as a result. However, Mr. Frank also deserves some serious scrutiny for his corrupt practices and high-priced benefits received from beneficiaries of TARP.
Even if what Frank did is technically "legal", it's corrupt and I'd say the same for any GOP member who did the same thing. Frank "took a free private jet to the Virgin Islands courtesy of a Maine congresswoman's billionaire fiance — whose company received a $200 million federal bailout, the Herald has learned."
The corruption doesn't get much clearer than that. After all, old Barney is chairman of the Financial Services Committee.
The Boston Herald reports:
Frank, who's facing feisty Republican challenger Sean Bielat, flew to the tropical paradise for a vacation in 2009 on a $25 million jet owned by Paloma Partners honcho S. Donald Sussman, the fiance of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine). Paloma Securities — a subsidiary of Sussman's Greenwich, Conn.-based hedge fund — received $200 million in 2009 as part of the $180 billion federal bailout of troubled insurance giant AIG, records show.
Frank, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, said his partner, Jim Ready, lives in Pingree's district and the couples are "personal friends."
Isn't that nice. However, it's corrupt and it symbolizes the rot that infects Washington in every corner, party, district, and chamber. The Chamber of Commerce is vilified without evidence by an administration that refused to filter overseas donations during it's campaign while this monstrosity in Massachusetts continues.
Bielat, Frank's GOP contender for the district, added: "Typical. Barney keeps showing how career politicians work — they use our dollars for their favors. It may be legal, but it's wrong and that's why we need a change."
This kind of elitism eventually leads to revolution, and I don't say that lightly. Consider the Wall Street Journal's report highlighting that Congressional members and staffers are not subject to insider trading rules even though the information they trade on is not public information:
"Congress is immune from insider-trading laws; federal regulators have never brought an insider-trading case against either congressional members of their staffs. Unlike many executive branch employees, lawmakers and aides don't have restrictions on their stock holdings and ownership interests in companies they oversee."
Corrupt.
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