By Lew Finfer
Special to the Reporter
Former US Rep. Barney Frank died on May 19 at age 86. A public memorial service will be held at Faneuil Hall next Monday (June 8). Following are some Barney Frank stories that I was a part of.
Constituent Service
The scene was the Financial and Foreclosure Crisis in September 2008 when the economy was reeling as major companies like Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and others collapsed.
Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson, Congressman Barney Frank, Sen. Chris Dodd as chairs of the Banking Committees in Congress, and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke were probably the four most important persons trying to figure this out so we didn’t go into a Depression. Maybe they were the busiest people in the world at that moment.
Massachusetts Communities Action Network (MCAN) that I directed and our affiliate, United Interfaith Action of SE MA (UIA), which was in Congressman Frank’s district, called his office during those crucial days. We left a phone message on what community groups felt should be done.
We were amazed that he had the time to call back in the midst of this national crisis he had to figure out. He left a several-minute messages on what was going on and responded to our proposals on saving homeowners from foreclosure.
There’s nothing worse than losing your American Dream of a home. As the foreclosure crisis grew over time to 3.5 million foreclosures, we set up a meeting with Barney that was held in the sanctuary of St. Patrick’s Church in Brockton, which had the highest foreclosure rate in the state. We were able to organize 600 people to attend.
We asked him to set up a program to help prevent foreclosures as millions were getting foreclosed at first because of predatory lending by banks and then mostly due to long term unemployment. He responded by adding to the bill the $1 billion Emergency Homeowners Loan Program to prevent hundreds of thousands of foreclosures.
He and Sen. Dodd co-wrote what became to be called the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that increased regulations on banks to try to prevent a future massive crash of our financial system like this one that had almost happened. It included setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that returned $21 billion to consumers whmo the banks had taken advantage of.
Overbearing
MCAN and UIA were in Washington working on national legislation on affordable housing. We met with Congressman Frank and he sat at a big desk going through papers and signing them and writing things on them all the while carrying on a conversation with us. He turned off the leaders of our group from New Bedford with his rudeness. Yes, not many can have a conversation and also go through letters and paper writing replies. But he didn’t win respect from his constituents who wanted him to look them in the eye. But they knew he could get things done.
Ellen Feingold was a major figure in housing policy and legislation in Massachusetts for 40 years, so she worked closely with Barney Frank. Once he was so overbearing that she hung up on him. He called back and didn’t understand why she’d do this. She told me he sometimes didn’t get it.
Humor
Barney Frank was extra effective as a politician as he could, over and over, come up with a short humorous comment on an issue that the press loved to quote. Like him saying pastors from the Moral Majority organization believed that “life begins at conception and ends at birth.” That was all about opposing abortion and no time for hunger or homelessness.
At a 2010 meeting with him on supporting a law to prevent foreclosures, he was asked by Kris McDonald, a leader in Brockton Interfaith Community to answer questions. She said, “Congressman Frank we have four questions tonight for you to answer. Ever the wise guy, he replied, ” Well, I know I’m a Jew in a Catholic Church for this meeting but it’s usually the Jews who ask the Four Questions.”
Not missing a beat, McDonald said, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” which is the first question at a Passover Seder.
Once I had a meeting with Charlie Baker when he was state Secretary of Human Services. He took a call from Congressman Frank and told him he was meeting with me. Barney said, “Has he become a Republican?” I turned red with embarrassment. I didn’t want to be mistaken for a Republican!
We will miss his solutions to policy challenges, his humor, and appreciate that even in his final days he was challenging the Democratic Party to get its act together and not squander its chances to win the 2026 and 2028 elections in order to save our country. He wanted to get things done and “not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
Thanks Barney. We will miss you in so many ways.
Lew Finfer of Dorchester is the director of Massachusetts Communities Action Network.
