Congressman Barney Frank, a tenacious advocate for the fishing industry, announced Monday his decision to retire from elective public service at the end of his term next year.
A singular figure for his mind, energy, wit, sharp tongue, sense of humor, hands-on approach and embodiment of values that trace to the economic liberalism of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the social enlightenment of Abraham Lincoln, Frank began his career in public service as the deputy mayor and innovator in Kevin White's Boston City Hall operation in 1968.
Serving in the legislature from 1973 to 1980 as a backbencher, forging coalitions with Republicans to countervale the intrenched power of the Democratic leadership, one re-election campaign featured a black and white poster of a dishevelled, cigar chomping Frank propounding the wisdom that "Neatness isn't everything."
His congressional output expanded during the past and current term which featured the massive Dodd-Frank Act; it was an attempt — within the limits of the possible, Frank's terrain — to rein in the worst excesses of the banking and investment cultures that begat the financial decline from the housing bubble and the confidence and credit crises that continue to roll around the world.
Frank said in a news conference in Newton, where he lives, that — rather than run again — he would shift focus to defending the financial reform that bears his name and directing the need for deficit reduction to the military.
"I was — and am — concerned about right-wing assaults on the financial reform bill, especially since we are now in a very critical period when the bill is in the process of implementation," he said.
"In addition, recognizing that there is a need for us to do long-term deficit reduction, I was — and am — determined to do everything possible to make sure that substantial reduction in our excessive overseas military commitments forms a significant part of the savings over the next 10 years," he added.
Had he run again, thanks to a newly signed redistricting, it would have been in a radically altered district, which no longer includes New Bedford, the co-capital of the East Coast fishing industry along with Gloucester.
Frank has immersed himself in the arcana of the oceans and forming with Congressman John Tierney, who represents Gloucester, a legislative fishing industry phalanx second to none. That bipartisan group also includes Sens. John Kerry and Scott Brown.
Then the lieutenant governor, Kerry got his shot to run for the Senate in 1984 in part because Frank decided to remain in the earthier House of Representatives. The two had been allies for more than a decade even then.
"He's brave, he's bold, and he's ridiculously smart," said Kerry. "People have marveled for years about what a quick and witty debater Barney can be, but many overlooked his secret: he has a core.
"He's the same advocate I met in the 1970s stumping for Father (Robert F.) Drinan (a Catholic priest who ran for Congress and won as an anti-Vietnam War candidate)," Kerry said. "Only he's taken that fight and that same sense of fundamental fairness to battles over equality, affordable housing, and fishing in New Bedford."
"He has been a force for protecting and expanding the civil rights of all Americans, an ally to our seniors, veterans and those in need, an opponent of reckless wars and misguided defense spending, and a leader in restoring responsible regulation to the financial industry," said Tierney. "It is fitting that a law reining in Wall Street's unscrupulous practices and establishing an agency designed to protect the rights of consumers bears his name."
"Congressman Frank and I may have been on opposite sides of the political aisle, but we also found issues of common purpose where we worked together, such as standing up for our state's veterans and fishermen," said Brown. "I have always admired his tenacity and advocacy, and respect his service on behalf of Massachusetts."
Frank, 71, has held the 4th Congressional District - which includes Newton, Brookline, Fall River, Taunton and New Bedford - since 1981. He cited the loss of New Bedford from his district as a factor in his decision, along with what he sees as gridlock in Washington. "I now believe that there is more to be done trying to change things from outside than by working within," he conceded.