Barney Frank, former Fourth Congressional District Congressman, died on May 19 at the age of 86 after suffering from congestive heart failure. He was living in Ogunquit, ME with his husband, Jim Ready, and had announced less than a month earlier that he was in hospice care. A champion and leader in equality, economic justice, affordable housing, health care, personal choice, and freedom, Mr. Frank was also renowned for the sharpness of both his mind and tongue.
Born in the working-class, industrial city of Bayonne, New Jersey, Mr. Frank emerged as an audacious fighter – possibly essential to his survival as someone who was brilliant, gay, and Jewish. After attending Harvard University, he worked for Michael Harrington, who was the first of the progressive Democratic Massachusetts Congressmen. When Kevin White was elected Boston’s progressive mayor, he appointed Barney Frank as his executive assistant. Boston City Hall was the beginning of Mr. Frank’s insightful impact on government as an indomitable change agent at every level: city, state, and federal.
In 1972, he ran for a seat in the Massachusetts House from the exclusive Beacon Hill/Back Bay neighborhood, then a generally Republican district — and he won. In a Facebook statement paying tribute to his contribution to the district and the city, the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay wrote, “Barney was a key player in getting Back Bay’s (and the city’s) first effective neighborhood parking plan, getting the first ever street lights installed on Commonwealth Avenue and much of Marlborough Street, and, probably most important, the construction of the Clarendon Street Playground. …Back Bay would not be the great neighborhood it is without his contribution.”
Barney Frank was the personification of all politics being local, at the same time that he was trailblazing. In 1981, he replaced Fr. Robert F. Drinan, SJ, in Congress, representing the Fourth Congressional District. Fr. Drinan, a Jesuit priest, had left Congress when Pope John Paul II prohibited ordained priests from serving in elective office, and Fr. Drinan endorsed Mr. Frank’s candidacy.
Marc Laredo, Newton’s mayor and lifelong resident, grew up in a Democratic household and was twenty when Mr. Frank entered Congress. Mayor Laredo’s parents had been active in local Democratic politics and strong Drinan supporters. Assessing Congressman Frank’s performance, Mayor Laredo described him as “exceptionally effective, …standing up for individual liberties,” but knowing how to get things done. “Pragmatism is important,” he said, voicing the theme reiterated by many political leaders in describing the Congressman’s skill in bringing people together to achieve goals. Mayor Laredo also credited the Congressman for his ability to confront the scandal arising from revelations that his personal assistant was operating a male prostitution business. Congressman Frank accepted Congressional reprimand and severed ties with the man. His constituents supported and re-elected him at the next election.
Given Mr. Frank’s reputation for advocacy of a wide range of human and civil rights, Mayor Laredo underscored the irony that Congressman Frank, House Chair of the Financial Service Committee, was the principal force behind the Dodd/Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act providing regulations for financial institutions and the devastating practices leading to the financial crisis in 2008. The legislation established the now-embattled Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Newton’s recently retired State Representatives, Ruth Balser and Kay Khan, had longstanding political relationships with Congressman Frank. Both recalled his ongoing support of their legislative roles and that he was always available to them.
Rep. Balser recalled how supportive of her work the Congressman was. Mr. Frank enthusiastically congratulated her for securing a four-way stop sign for her neighborhood when she was a member of the then Board of Aldermen. Having served in Boston city government, he appreciated that achievement. On a larger scale, she admired him for being a champion for broad-based affordable housing and health care, and his steadfast commitment to peace. Additionally, she appreciated his commitment to the Jewish community by advocating for issues of his times — for Soviet Jews and also for Israel. She added that he exemplified the Jewish concept of tikkun olam – repair of the world. Rep. Balser credited the Congressman for his pragmatism as well as his integrity. She felt honored when he inscribed in her copy of his 2015 political biography, “To Another Principled Pragmatist Legislator Ruth Balser.”
Whenever Rep. Khan asked him to join her at a fundraiser, the Congressman came. When she reached out to him for help with constituent needs, he responded. A strong advocate for extending public transportation, Rep. Khan wanted federal funding to upgrade the Riverside Commuter Rail Station. She contacted Congressman Frank, who shared her commitment and earmarked close to $3 million for the purpose. “He always cared about people,” she said, noting that Congressman Frank told her about one of his colleagues who was confined to a wheelchair and unable to access much of public transportation. “He was partisan but always willing to work in a bipartisan way, willing to work across the aisle,” to achieve goals, according to Rep. Khan, who told Fig City News, “When Barney was in Washington, I had confidence that he would do the right thing.”
Jim Segel, who entered the Massachusetts House in 1973 representing Brookline, remained Congressman Frank’s friend, consultant, and ally. He emphasized the Congressman’s belief that ideology required pragmatism for political success, and that advocacy came before lawmaking.
Beyond his political achievements and his reputation for sharp-tongued retorts, Mr. Frank was devoted to his friends and family. When his brother-in-law, Jim Breay, died, leaving Barney Frank’s younger sister, Doris, a widow with two young children, Mr. Frank moved in to help stabilize her family.
The New York Times obituary noted that in Barney Frank’s recently completed book, The Hard Path to Unity, he advises the “political left” to ”slow down and find common ground. Rather than focusing on cultural flash points, he argued that the party must build support for something practical; instead of demanding Medicare for all, for example, start by reducing the age of Medicare eligibility.” An interview with the Boston Globe on May 4, when he was in hospice care, referred to “his own experience of advocating for same-sex marriage before it became legal — first in Massachusetts and eventually nationwide” and said, “Frank reminded Democrats to his political left that smaller moments of change are foundation stones for larger accomplishments.”
A memorial gathering celebrating the life and work of Congressman Frank will be held at 10AM on Monday, June 8 in Faneuil Hall.