Conflict of Interest Charges: Barney Frank's Gay Lover Worked for Fannie Mae

[dilloduck]

Just wondering, everytime a Republican gets caught with a guy do you put "Gay" in front of partner? I don't think so.

Gets CAUGHT with a guy ? Barney lives with one. Are we supposed to think that he's NOT gay even though he admits to it ? Cmon Robby. It's just a word--don't be offended. Barney even uses it.

 

[The Paperboy]

Just wondering, everytime a Republican gets caught with a guy do you put "Gay" in front of partner? I don't think so.

As noted it was cut and pasted but personally I don't see a problem with it. It's called a modifier. It tells the reader more information. Examples:

Joe Biden: "widowed father of three"
Sarah Palin: "mother of five"
JFK: "Roman Catholic President"
Romeny: "Mormon Republican candidate"
Obama: "African American nominee"

Why is it so taboo to give the reader more information? Seems a bit too PC to me in this day and age.

 

[xsited1]

From the article:

"If this had been his ex-wife and he was Republican, I would bet every penny I have - or at least what’s not in the stock market - that this would be considered germane," added Gainor, a T. Boone Pickens Fellow. "But everybody wants to avoid it because he’s gay. It’s the quintessential double standard."

True.

 

[Modbert]

As noted it was cut and pasted but personally I don't see a problem with it. It's called a modifier. It tells the reader more information. Examples:

Joe Biden: "widowed father of three"
Sarah Palin: "mother of five"
JFK: "Roman Catholic President"
Romeny: "Mormon Republican candidate"
Obama: "African American nominee"

Why is it so taboo to give the reader more information? Seems a bit too PC to me in this day and age.

With the last three you named on that list those are more reasons why people won't vote for those candidates solely more then anything.

 

[Sunni Man]

if you haven't already, arrange to be sterilized.
thanks,

No can do!!

I am a breeder. Have had 7 kids already with my ex.

This wife wants a couple of her own.

Got to get back to work!!!

 

[The Paperboy]

With the last three you named on that list those are more reasons why people won't vote for those candidates solely more then anything.

OK. You win. It would have been better to simply write "Frank's partner". The fact that anyone with half a brain knows "partner" is code for "gay partner" is besides the fact. Sigh.

Now about that possible conflict of interest...

 

[Alpha1]

I don't know. I need another source, honestly. FOX has been known to stretch the truth.

Media Mum on Barney Frank's Fannie Mae Love Connection

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews launched several vitriolic attacks on the
Republican Party on his Sept. 17, 2008, show, suggesting blame for Wall Street problems should be focused in a partisan way. However, he and other media have failed to thoroughly examine the Democratic side of the blame game.

Prominent Democrats ran Fannie Mae, the same government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) that donated campaign cash to top Democrats. And one of Fannie Mae’s main defenders in the House – Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., a recipient of more than $40,000 in campaign donations from Fannie since 1989 – was once romantically involved with a Fannie Mae executive......

Frank was referring to Moses as his “spouse.” Another Washington Post report said Frank called Moses his “lover” and that the two were “still friends” after the breakup.

Frank has argued that family life “should be fair game for campaign discussion,” wrote the Associated Press on Sept. 2. The comment was in reference to GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and her pregnant daughter.

In 1991, Frank and former Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., lobbied for Fannie to soften rules on multi-family home mortgages although those dwellings showed a default rate twice that of single-family homes, according to the Nov. 22, 1991, Boston Globe.

According to an article by Kathleen Day in the Oct. 8, 2003, Washington Post, Frank opposed giving the Bush administration the right to approve or disapprove business activities that “could pose risk to the taxpayers.” He told the Post he worried the Treasury Department “would sacrifice activities that are good for consumers in the name of lowering the companies’ market risks.”

Just a month before, Frank had aggressively thwarted reform efforts by the Bush administration. He told The New York Times on Sept. 11, 2003, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s problems were “exaggerated,” a gross miscalculation some five years later with costs estimated to be in the hundreds of billions.

“These two entities – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” Frank said to the Times. “The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

Frank has also reaped campaign contribution benefits from Fannie Mae and its counterpart Freddie Mac. According a front page story in the Sept. 19, 2008, Investor’s Business Daily by Terry Jones, Frank has received $40,100 in campaign cash over the past two decades from the GSEs.

Frank was asked by CNN’s John Roberts on the Sept. 22, 2008 “American Morning” about this and his opposition to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Originally, he claimed he didn’t think the two GSEs were facing any problems when the issue first surfaced in 2003. He instead blamed the Republican-controlled Congress for their ultimate fall, failing to mention his friendly relationship with Fannie Mae and the contributions it had made to his campaign over the years.

“All of this bad stuff on Wall Street happened because people got greedy and the greed started at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” Rove said. “And I know this because five years ago, the administration was alerted by the regulator, James Lockhart, that there was insufficient authority and that these institutions – particularly Fannie – were out of control.”

Rove said the Bush administration’s efforts to reform Fannie and Freddie were opposed by congressional Democrats – specifically Frank and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.

“And I got to tell you, for five years, I was part of an effort at the White House to fight this and our biggest opponents on the Hill who blocked this every step of the way were people like Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. And Fannie and Freddie are the $200 billion contagion at the center of this.”

Frank has been quick to blame deregulation for some of the problems in the financial environment, as he did on Bloomberg television’s Sept. 19 “Political Capital with Al Hunt.” However, as earmark crusader Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. pointed out – it’s not deregulation, but it was the structure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that had been guarded by Frank and other members of Congress.

As far back as 2002, The Wall Street Journal was comparing Fannie Mae to Enron in its editorial pages. A Feb. 20, 2002 editorial entitled “Fannie Mae Enron?” exposed the high debt and poor risk management of Fannie and Freddie.

“The more we’ve since looked at Fan and Fred the more they look like poorly run hedge funds: lots of leverage and snarkily hedged risk. The word Enron ring any bells?” said the Journal editorial.

It turned out that Fannie Mae’s financial fiasco was – at that time – 19 times bigger than Enron’s. Yet, the TV news media on ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC barely made a peep. Now with the federal bailout, that number is much higher.

So why were Fannie and Freddie given a free pass by the broadcast media? It might have something to do with their mission of helping low-income families buy homes.

In 2004, Newsweek’s Charles Gasparino said in a CNN appearance, “Well, Fannie Mae is a very politically corrupt – it may be politically corrupt, but it’s a politically correct company. I mean, they do all the things that, let’s face, liberal journalists like, like put home mortgages out there for poor people. And so right now, beating up on Fannie Mae is kind of politically incorrect.”

Gasparino admitted that “This is a huge story, and it’s going overlooked.”

Judging by 2008 media coverage of the issue, Fannie and Freddie are apparently still politically correct enough to not be blamed for their bad behavior.

 

[del]

No can do!!

I am a breeder. Have had 7 kids already with my ex.

This wife wants a couple of her own.

Got to get back to work!!!

the horror

 

[random3434]

the horror

LOL, no kidding, it's scary that it breeds.....

 

[editec]

Doesn't surprise me.

Nepotism and insiders getting good jobs are the norm in Washington Politics for BOTH parties.