Barney decides to stay at home . . .

[Guinevere]

US Representative Barney Frank, the state’s highest-profile congressman and one of the nation’s leading liberal voices after being among its first openly gay elected officials, planned to announce today that he will not reelection next year.


Barney FrankA top adviser told the Globe that the new district in which Frank would have had to run next year was a major factor in his decision. While it retained his Newton stronghold, it was revised to encompass more conservative towns like Walpole while losing New Bedford, a blue-collar city where the Democrat had invested a lot of time and become a leading figure in the region’s fisheries debate.

Frank’s campaign manager last year said his withering 2010 re-election effort spurred the congressman to think seriously about retirement, even saying a few days after the election that it would be his last one.

Frank wanted to announce that this would be his final term immediately afterward, but decided against it, said Kevin Sowyrda, the campaign manager.

“We looked him right in the face and said, ‘You can’t resign,” Sowyrda said. “In fairness to Barney, he was emotional about it. He said, ‘I know I’ve got to stay.’”

“I believe that Barney felt an obligation to come through for the (supporters) people that came through for him,” said Sowyrda.

But retirement has been on his mind ever since.

The congressman scheduled a 1 p.m. press conference at Newton City Hall “to formally announce and answer questions about his decision not to run for re-election in 2012,” according to a statement.

I'm not entirely surprised. Massachusetts is losing a congressman as a result of the 2010 census, and the redistricting plan was issued a couple of weeks ago. Losing New Bedford was a tough blow. Many of the districts were physically consolidated, and Barney's was one of the most gerrymandered district in the Northeast. Despite the Massachusetts legislature being a strong hold of the Democrats, none of the incumbents were given any favors (my town is being put into a new district with a different congresscritter -- one I cannot stand, so I'm not thrilled about it either).

[Scooter]

Many of the districts were physically consolidated...none of the incumbents were given any favors

Exactly how it should work.

[Guinevere]

Many of the districts were physically consolidated...none of the incumbents were given any favors

Exactly how it should work.

I don't disagree, but you should hear the whining of the republicans

I do think when there has been a long-term relationship between a large economically distressed city like New Bedford and a congressman like Barney who has done a ton for them, more should have been done to preserve that relationship.

[dgs49]

Example of Republicans' thinly-veiled "whining":

Astonished Bay State Republicans say they’ve emerged from the latest redistricting process with a better chance of breaking the Democrats’ iron grip on the commonwealth’s congressional delegation in 2012 — instead of being gerrymandered deeper into exile.

“It’s surprisingly hopeful,” said GOP strategist Todd Domke. “There are some real opportunities now for Republicans to hit the reset button in the state and win some seats.”

[Excerpted from the Boston Herald. One of several similar stories that came up when I queried Google News on the subject].

Those Republican bastards won't even have the decency to admit they are pissed.


Apropos bumber sticker:


"Barney Frank - Best Argument for Term Limits"

[rubato]

He will be missed.

A powerful and articulate voice for reason.

yrs,
rubato

[Guinevere]

Great column this morning from one of the Herald's (Boston's "conservative fish-wrapper) columnists (most of the others in the Herald were downright nasty, and refused to recognize what he has accomplished for his constituents):

Barney Frank is a rude, abrasive, anti-social, congressional crab who barks his words so fast you can’t understand him, who suffers fools not at all and who looks more disheveled and droopy dog than any gay man alive.

But his retirement is a huge loss for Massachusetts. Newton and Brookline hang on his every “brilliant” word. Fall River is forever grateful that he kept out that horrible natural gas facility. New Bedford fishermen adore him.

Though he’s called me “stupid” about a hundred times, I will miss his big brain and spot-on wit — particularly as men with neither have the gall to run for president and a dumbed-down America thinks, dumbly, that’s just swell.

I admire Frank, too, for coming out nearly 25 years ago, in the midst of the AIDS epidemic, when gay men routinely lost homes and jobs and “faggot” was an acceptable word in public. Frank nearly lost his own job over news that his ex-boyfriend ran a prostitution ring out of Frank’s apartment (though Frank insisted he never knew). But even that horror seems less horrible given the sleazy sexual shenanigans of so many politicians since then.

“With the exception of Ted Kennedy, Barney is the most significant liberal voice in politics over the last 40 years,” says Dan Payne, who’s worked on Frank’s campaigns since 1980. “He’s the Wikipedia of Congress. He knows something about everything.”

He’s never lost an election. He gives it to jerks even when they’re citizen jerks. “Ma’am,” he famously told an obnoxious woman at a health care town meeting, “having a conversation with you is like trying to argue with a dining room table.”

And who has given us better quotes?

On the Big Dig: “Wouldn’t it be cheaper to raise the city?”

On pro-life Republicans: “Conservatives believe that ... life begins at conception and ends at birth.”

On being Jewish during an all-night school prayer debate: “If this is a Christian nation, how come some poor Jew has to get up at 5:30 in the morning to preside over the House of Representatives?”

On gay marriage opponents: “There’s a correlation between people who attack same-sex marriage and have difficulty maintaining their own.”

Yesterday, he listed as an upside of retirement, “I don’t have to pretend to be nice to people I don’t like.”

Funny, I’ve rarely noticed any “pretending” to be nice. Still, I’m already nostalgic for his in-your-face crankiness.

Article

[dgs49]

Like a lot of big city mayors in places like Philly, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Detroit, he is an example of how obnoxious and "unelectable" you can be and still get elected when your voting district is sufficiently skewed to your side. There are probably not more than 10 congressional districts in the country where he could have won a single election, let alone made a career of being in Congress.

There will be a big void in Conservative fundraising literature with him gone. Not as big as the void left when Terrible Ted died, but close.

[dgs49]

Isn't it noteworthy that that columnist doesn't know the difference between "raise" and "raze"?

(Or maybe he did actually mean "raise")

[Scooter]

No. You completely missed the joke.

eta - yes, you got it in the edit

[Guinevere]

In the context of the Big Dig, the joke was indeed "raise" Boston. 17Billion+ to tunnel underneath it --- and ongoing issues and problems to this day -- maybe it would have been cheaper to put the entire city on stilts.

I know you despise him Dave, but he fought for his people, paid attention to what they said, and cared about taking care of them. That is precisely what a Congressman should do, and what far too may of them ignore. If you dared disparage Barney to most of the fishermen or other ordinary folk of New Bedford and Fall River, you'd find yourself beaten into a pulp. That he could bridge the gap between those two cities, and Newton, took extraordinary skill and commitment. Not many can do it.

[BoSoxGal]

As a former constituent, I'm sad to see him go. I hope he remains in politics, as he's said he will.

[dgs49]

There are lots of congressmen who are great for their districts but not so great for the country. In my area, John Murtha was such a person.

Like many Lib politicians his biggest failing was ignoring the predictable ripple effects of the "good" he was trying to accomplish. People respond to stimuli, and not always in the way you would hope.

Based on his public personna would not expect any serious introspection in his memoir.