“He Kept His Word”

When Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts announced his retirement this week, President Obama declared that the country had never had a congressman quite like him, and that is true. In 2009, he became that rarest breed, a House member interesting enough to warrant a biography: Barney Frank: The Story of America’s Only Left-Handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman, by Stuart Weisberg. Funny and fast-talking, the former chairman and current top-ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, Frank is finishing his 16th term. And his colorful persona and status as one of the tiny handful of openly gay members in congressional history has long made him a rumpled standout in a sea of gray faces.

Posted: Fri, 12/02/2011 - 12:26pm