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A town hall meeting in West Hartford, Connecticut

A town hall meeting is an American English term given to an informal public meeting. Everybody in a town community is invited to attend, not always to voice their opinions, but to hear the responses from public figures and (if applicable) elected officials about shared subjects of interest. Attendees rarely vote on an issue or propose an alternative to a situation. It is not used outside of this secular context.

There are no specific rules or guidelines for holding a town hall meeting.^{[citation needed]} If the turnout is large, and in a particular case the objective is to give as many people as possible an opportunity to speak, then the group can be broken down into smaller discussion groups. Each group, in that case, appoints someone to summarize discussion of their group. Many companies also have such meetings.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Town Hall Meetings

• Town meeting
• AmericaSpeaks
• Buzzword

This article about a political term is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

The Rathaus in Hamburg, Germany (building completed in 1897).

Architecturally renowned Toronto City Hall

City Hall, the headquarters of the Greater London Authority in the United Kingdom

Stockholm City Hall, where the Nobel Banquet takes place.

George Town City Hall, Penang houses the office of Municipal Council of Penang Island

Town hall and post office: Lockhart, Alabama, United States.

Town hall, police, and fire station: South Palm Beach, FL, United States

In local government, a city hall, town hall or (more rarely) a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city^[1] town or other municipality. It usually houses the city or town council, its associated departments, and their employees. It also usually functions as the base of the mayor of a city, town, borough, or county.

By convention, until the mid 19th-century, a single large open chamber (or 'hall') formed an integral part of the building housing the council. The hall may be used for council meetings and other significant events. This large chamber, the 'town hall', (and its later variant 'city hall') has become synonymous with the whole building, and with the administrative body housed in it. The terms 'council chambers', 'municipal building' or variants may be used locally in preference to 'town hall' if no such large hall is present within the building. Sometimes, like Birmingham Town Hall in the English Midlands, municipal buildings act as a public social venue and as a building completely separate from the administrative centre; Birmingham uses the Council House for local governance.

The local government may endeavour to use the townhall building to promote and enhance the quality of life of the community. In many cases, "'town halls' serve not only as buildings for government functions, but also have facilities for various civic and cultural activities. These may include art shows, stage performances, exhibits and festivals. Modern town halls or "civic centres" are often designed with a great variety and flexibility of purpose in mind.

As symbols of local government, city and town halls have distinctive architecture, and the buildings may have great historical significance - for example the Guildhall, London. City hall buildings may also serve as cultural icons that symbolize their cities as is the case with Toronto City Hall, Brussels Town Hall, Philadelphia City Hall, and Los Angeles City Hall, that have been featured in Hollywood films.

Nomenclature[link]

The term "town hall" is a general one, often applied without regard to whether the building serves or served a town or a city. This is generally the case in the United Kingdom (with examples such as Manchester Town Hall in the city of Manchester) and in Australia (with Sydney Town Hall in the city of Sydney). This is the case in New Zealand, Hong Kong, and many Commonwealth countries.

English-speakers in some regions use the term "city hall" to designate the council offices of a municipality of city status. This is the case in North America, where a distinction is made between city halls and town halls. It is also the case with Brisbane City Hall in Australia and Sheffield City Hall in England, which houses a concert hall and ballroom.

The Oxford English Dictionary sums up the generic terms:

• town hall: "A large hall used for the transaction of the public business of a town, the holding of a court of justice, assemblies, entertainments, etc.; the great hall of the town-house or municipal building; now very commonly applied to the whole building"^[2]
• city hall: "chiefly N. Amer., the chief municipal offices of a city; hence, the municipal officers collectively"^[3]

County Council administrations in parts of England and Wales generally operate from a base in a building called, by analogy, a "County Hall" or "Shire Hall". In Scotland, local government in larger cities operates from the "City Chambers".

Elsewhere in English-speaking countries, other names are occasionally used. In London, the official headquarters of administration of the City of London retains its Anglo-Saxon name, the Guildhall, signifying a place where taxes were paid. In Liverpool, England, Liverpool Town Hall is the name given to the official residence of the City's Lord Mayor.

History[link]

Large halls called basilicas were used in Ancient Rome for the administration of justice, as meeting places, and for trade.

In the Early Medieval period, the hall, a single large open chamber, was the main, and sometimes only room of the home of a feudal lord. There the lord lived with his family and retinue, ate, slept and administered rule and justice. Activities in the hall played an essential role in the functioning of the feudal manor, the administrative unit of society. As manorial dwellings developed into manor houses, castles and palaces, the hall, or "great hall" as it was often termed, remained an essential unit within the architectural complex.

The modern concept of the town hall developed with the development of local or regional government. Cities administered by a group of elected or chosen representatives, rather than by a lord or princely ruler, required a place for their council to meet. The Cologne City Hall of 1135 is a prominent example for self-gained municipal autonomy of Medieval cities. The Palazzo Pubblico of the Republic of Siena and the Palazzo Vecchio of the Republic of Florence, both town halls, date from 1297 and 1299 respectively. In each case the large, fortified building comprises a large meeting hall and numerous administrative chambers. Both buildings are topped by very tall towers. Both buildings have ancient timepieces by which the people of the town can regulate their lives. Both buildings have facilities for the storage of documents and references that pertain to the city's administration. These features: a hall, a tower and a clock, as well as administrative chambers and an archive or muniment room became the standard features of town halls across Europe. Brussels Town Hall of the 15th century, with its 96-metre (315 ft) tower, is one of the grandest examples of the medieval era, serving as a model for 19th-century town halls such as the Rathaus, Vienna.

During the 19th century town hall buildings often included "reading rooms" to provide free education to the public, and it eventually became customary for the town or city council to establish and maintain a library as part of its service to the community. The grand chamber or meeting place, the "town hall" itself, became a place for receptions, banquets, balls and public entertainment. Town halls, particularly during the 19th century, were often equipped with large pipe organs to facilitate public recitals.

In the 20th century town halls, as venues, have served the public as places for voting, examinations, vaccinations, relief in times of disaster and the posting lists of war casualties, as well as for the more usual civil functions, festivities and entertainments. Local councils have tended increasingly to remove administrative functions into modern offices. Where new premises are designed and constructed to house local governments, the concepts and functions of administrative council offices and of a civic town hall become separated.

Language[link]

English-speakers can use the term "city hall" by metonymy to mean "municipal government" or government in general, as in the axiom "You can't fight city hall".^[1] "Town hall" tends to have less formal connotations (cf. Town meeting).

See also[link]

• List of city and town halls
• Royal Palace of Amsterdam (was a town hall and for a long time the largest (public) administrative building in Europe)
• Town meeting

References[link]

• Tittler, Robert (1991). Architecture and power: the town hall and the English urban community, c. 1500-1640. Oxford University Press. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-19-820230-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=qWnkDbSYiGoC. Retrieved 2010-04-02. 

External links[link]

Media related to Town halls by country at Wikimedia Commons Media related to City hall at Wikimedia Commons

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2008)

The Marwar Hall at Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur, India

Hall in religious buildings : prayer hall of the Great Mosque of Kairouan, in Kairouan, Tunisia

A hallway at the Royal York Hotel

Hallway during and after construction in an apartment building in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

An outdoor passageway near the Alamo

In architecture, a hall is fundamentally a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age, a mead hall was such a simple building and was the residence of a lord and his retainers. Later, rooms were partitioned from it, so that today the hall of a house is the space inside the front door through which the rooms are reached....

This:

• Deriving from the above, a hall is often the term used to designate a British or Irish country house.
• In later medieval Europe, the main room of a castle or manor house was the great hall.
• Where the hall inside the front door of a house is elongated, it may be called a passage, corridor, or hallway.
• In a medieval building, the hall was where the fire was kept. With time, its functions as dormitory, kitchen, parlour and so on were divided off to separate rooms or, in the case of the kitchen, a separate building.

On the same principle:

• Many buildings at colleges and universities are formally titled "_______ Hall", typically being named after the person who endowed it, for example, King's Hall, Cambridge. Others, such as Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, commemorate respected people. Between these in age, Nassau Hall at Princeton University began as the single building of the then college. In medieval origin, these were the halls in which the members of the university lived together during term time. In many cases, some aspect of this community remains.
• At colleges in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Hall is the dining hall for students, with High Table at one end for fellows. Typically, at "Formal Hall", gowns are worn for dinner during the evening, whereas for "informal Hall" they are not.
• Many Livery Companies (e.g., in the City of London) have a Hall that is their headquarters and meeting place.

Similarly:

• A hall is also a building consisting largely of a principal room, that is rented out for meetings and social affairs. It may be privately or government-owned, such as a function hall owned by one company used for weddings and cotillions (organized and run by the same company on a contractual basis) or a community hall available for rent to anyone.
• In religious architecture, as in Islamic architecture, the prayer hall is a large room dedicated to the practice of the worship.^[1] (example : the prayer hall of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia)

Following a line of similar development:

• In office buildings and larger buildings (theatres, cinemas etc.), the entrance hall is generally known as the foyer (the French for fire-place). The atrium, a name sometimes used in public buildings for the entrance hall, was the central courtyard of a Roman house.

Firehall (London, Ontario) in 1923

References[link]

1. ^ Stanford Anderson and Colin St. John Wilson, The Oxford companion to architecture, Volume 1, Oxford University Press, 2009, page 477

Look up Hall or hall in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Arlen Specter
United States Senator from Pennsylvania
In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Richard Schweiker
Succeeded by	Pat Toomey
Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
In office January 3, 1995 – January 3, 1997
Preceded by	Dennis DeConcini
Succeeded by	Richard Shelby
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2001
Preceded by	Alan Simpson
Succeeded by	Jay Rockefeller
In office January 20 – June 6, 2001
Preceded by	Jay Rockefeller
Succeeded by	Jay Rockefeller
In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Jay Rockefeller
Succeeded by	Larry Craig
Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
In office January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Orrin Hatch
Succeeded by	Patrick Leahy
19th District Attorney of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
In office January 3, 1966 – January 7, 1974
Preceded by	James Crumlish
Succeeded by	Emmitt Fitzpatrick
Personal details
Born	(1930-02-12) February 12, 1930 (age 82) Wichita, Kansas
Political party	Democratic (1951–1965,[1] April 28, 2009–present) Republican (1966 – April 28, 2009)
Spouse(s)	Joan Specter
Residence	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania (B.S.) Yale University (J.D.)
Occupation	Attorney
Committees	Appropriations, Judiciary, Veterans' Affairs, Special Committee on Aging
Religion	Judaism
Signature
Military service
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Years of service	1951–1953
Rank	First Lieutenant

Arlen Specter (born February 12, 1930) is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009. First elected in 1980, he represented his state for thirty years in the Senate. Specter is a moderate who staked out a spot in the political center.^[2]

Specter was born in Wichita, Kansas to an American mother and a father who immigrated from Russia. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and served with the United States Air Force during the Korean War. Specter later graduated from Yale Law School and opened a law firm with Marvin Katz, who would later become a federal judge. Specter served as assistant counsel for the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy and helped devise the "single bullet theory." In 1965, Specter was elected District Attorney of Philadelphia, a position that he would hold until he lost his re-election bid in 1973.

On April 28, 2009, Specter announced that, after 44 years as an elected Republican, he was switching membership to the Democratic Party,^[3][4] On May 18, 2010, Specter was defeated in the Democratic primary by Joe Sestak, who then was defeated by current Senator Pat Toomey in the general election. Toomey replaced Specter on January 3, 2011.

In fall 2011, Specter was an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he taught a course on the relationship between Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, focusing on separation of powers and the confirmation process.^[5] For this course the National Jurist named him as one of the "23 professors to take before you die."^[6]

Early life[link]

Specter was born in Wichita, Kansas, the youngest child of Lillie (Shanin) and Harry Specter, who grew up in the Bachkuryne village of Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. Specter claimed in his memoir Passion for Truth that his father's family was the only Jewish family in the village.^[7] The family lived at 940 South Emporia Street in Wichita before moving to Russell, Kansas where he graduated from Russell High School in 1947.^[8] He was raised in the Jewish faith in Russell, also the hometown of fellow politician Bob Dole (who graduated Russell High School in 1941). Specter said that his father weighed items from his junkyard on a scale owned by Dole's father Doran Dole (who owned a granary). He said his brother Morton and Dole's brother Kenny were contemporaries and friends.^[9]

Specter's father served in the U.S. infantry during World War I, and was badly wounded. During the Great Depression, Specter's father was a fruit peddler, a tailor, and a junkyard owner.

After graduating from Russell High School,^[10] Specter studied first at the University of Oklahoma. He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, majored in International Relations, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1951. While at UPenn, Specter was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. Specter said the family moved to Philadelphia when his sister Shirley was of a marriageable age because there were no other Jews in Russell.^[9]

During the Korean War, he served stateside in the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1953 and obtained the rank of Second Lieutenant within the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.^[11][12][13]

Specter graduated from Yale Law School in 1956 and was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar. That year, he married the former Joan Levy. In 1979, Joan was elected to an at-large seat on the Philadelphia City Council. She held the seat for four terms, until she was defeated for re-election in 1995. The couple has two sons, Shanin and Steve, and four grandchildren, Silvi, Perri, Lilli, and Hatti. They currently reside in the East Falls section of Philadelphia.

After graduating from Yale Law School, Specter opened a law practice, Specter & Katz, with the late Marvin Katz, who served as a Federal District Court Judge in Philadelphia until his death in October 2010. Specter became an assistant district attorney under District Attorney James Crumlish, and was a member of the Democratic Party.

Early political career[link]

Warren Commission[link]

At the recommendation of Representative Gerald Ford, he worked for the Warren Commission, investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy. As an assistant counsel for the commission, he authored or co-authored^[14] the "single bullet theory," which suggested the non-fatal wounds to Kennedy and wounds to Texas Governor John Connally were caused by the same bullet. This was a crucial assertion for the Warren Commission, since if the two had been wounded by separate bullets within such a short time frame, that would have demonstrated the presence of a second assassin and therefore a conspiracy.^[15]

Specter reproducing the assumed alignment of the single bullet theory

A further investigation by the House Committee on Assassinations in the late 1970s reaffirmed the single bullet theory, though concluded a conspiracy was likely owing to acoustic evidence.^{[citation needed]} Numerous authors have raised doubts over the plausibility of the theory and have concluded a conspiracy was likely, though most conclude Oswald acted alone.^{[citation needed]}

Seeks political office[link]

In 1965, Specter ran for district attorney for the city of Philadelphia, on the Republican ticket as a registered Democrat. He handily beat incumbent Jim Crumlish, and subsequently changed his registration to Republican. Although a supporter of capital punishment, as prosecutor he questioned the fairness of the Pennsylvania death penalty statute in 1972.^[16]

In 1967, he was the Republican Party standard bearer, together with City Controller candidate, Tom Gola, in the Philadelphia mayoral campaign against the Democratic incumbent James Tate. One of their slogans was, "We need THESE guys to watch THOSE guys."^[17] He served two terms as district attorney for the city of Philadelphia, but was handily defeated in his bid for a third term in 1973 by noted criminal defense attorney Emmett Fitzpatrick.^[18][19]

In 1976, Specter ran in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate and was defeated by John Heinz. In 1978, he was defeated in the primary for Governor of Pennsylvania by Dick Thornburgh.^[20] After several years of private practice with the prestigious Philadelphia law firm Dechert, Price & Rhoads, Specter ran for the Senate in 1980, this time, successfully. He assumed office in January 1981.

Hodgkin's disease[link]

On February 16, 2005, Specter announced that he had been diagnosed with an advanced form of Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer. Despite this, Specter continued working during chemotherapy. He ended treatment on July 22. Senator John Sununu (R-New Hampshire) shaved his head to show solidarity with Specter when he was undergoing chemotherapy and was temporarily bald. On April 15, 2008, he announced his cancer had returned, at a stage "significantly less advanced than his Hodgkin's disease when it was originally diagnosed in 2005."^[21][22] He underwent a second round of chemotherapy, which ended on July 14, 2008.^[23]

Senate career[link]

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An earlier portrait of Specter

Specter was first elected to the Senate in 1980. He is the longest-serving Senator in Pennsylvania's history; no one else from the state has been elected to five terms in that body. According to polls by Quinnipiac University, Specter has a higher approval rating among Democrats in Pennsylvania than Republicans, 62–55 respectively.^[24]

His opposition to Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork in 1987 is seen as an important factor in the nomination's failure. However, he raised the ire of many feminists with his aggressive questioning of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings in 1991, claiming she had committed "flat-out perjury" in her testimony.^[25][26]

In 1988 Specter co-sponsored an amendment to the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibits discrimination in the rental, sale, marketing, and financing of the nation's housing. The amendment strengthened the ability of the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity to enforce the Fair Housing Act and expanded the protected classes to include disabled persons and families with children.

In 1998 and 1999, Specter criticized the Republican Party for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Believing that Clinton had not received a fair trial, Specter cited Scots law to render a verdict of "not proven" on Clinton's impeachment.^[27] However, his verdict was recorded as "not guilty" in the Senate records.^[28]

On October 11, 2002, Arlen Specter voted in favor of H.J.Res.114 authorizing the Iraq War.^[29]

In a 2002 PoliticsPA Feature story designating politicians with yearbook superlatives, he was named the "Toughest to Work For."^[30] In 2003, the Pennsylvania Report, a subscription-based political newsletter, described Specter as one of the "vanishing breed of Republican moderates" and described his political stance as "'Pennsylvania first' middle of-the-road politics" even though he was known as an "avid Republican partisan."^[31]

Soon after the 2004 election, Specter stepped into the public spotlight as a result of controversial statements about his views of the future of the Supreme Court. At a press conference, he stated that:

Activist groups interpreted his comments as warnings to President George W. Bush about the implications of nominating Supreme Court justices who are opposed to the Roe v. Wade decision. Specter maintained his comments were a prediction, not a warning. He met with many conservative Republican senators, and based on assurances he gave them, he was recommended for the Judiciary Committee's chairmanship in late 2004. He officially assumed that position when the 109th Congress convened on January 4, 2005.

On March 9, 2006, the USA PATRIOT Act was signed into law. It amended the process for interim appointments of U.S. Attorneys, a clause which Specter wrote during his chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee.^[32] The change allowed the Bush Administration to appoint interim U.S. attorneys without term limits, and without confirmation by the Senate. The Bush administration used the law to place at least eight interim attorneys into office in 2006. Specter claims that the changes were added by staff member Brett Tolman.^[33] For more information, see dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy.

Specter while he was being interviewed by Margot Adler for an episode of Justice Talking on Presidential Signing statements

Specter was very critical of Bush's wiretapping of U.S. citizens without warrants. When the story first broke, he called the effort "inappropriate" and "clearly and categorically wrong." He said, he intended to hold hearings into the matter early in 2006, and had Alberto Gonzales appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer for the program (although Specter declined to force Gonzales to testify under oath). On January 15, 2006, Specter mentioned impeachment and criminal prosecution as potential remedies if Bush broke the law, though he downplayed the likelihood of such an outcome.

On April 9, 2006, Specter, speaking on Fox News about the Bush administration's leaking of classified intelligence, said that "The president of the United States owes a specific explanation to the American people".^[34]

However, he voted for the 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which placed federal electronic searches almost entirely within the executive branch.^[35]

During the 2007–2008 National Football League season, Specter wrote to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell concerning the destruction of New England Patriots Spygate tapes, wondering if there was a link between the tapes and their Super Bowl victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. On February 1, 2008, Roger Goodell stated that the tapes were destroyed because "they confirmed what I already knew about the issue." Specter would release a follow up statement:

Since 2007, Specter has sponsored legislation^[37] to fix a longstanding inequity in American law which shuts out a majority of U.S. Armed Forces service members from equal access to the U.S. Supreme Court.^[38] In 2007, Specter cosponsored the Equal Justice for United States Military Personnel Act of 2007 with Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.).^[37] The bill failed in the 110th Congress, and Specter again cosponsored the measure in the 2009 111th Congress.^[39]

In December 2008, Specter was involved in a controversy as a result of telling "Polish jokes" at New York's Rainbow Room while speaking at the annual meeting of the Commonwealth Club.^[40]

Specter voted in favor of the Senate's version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 10, 2009; he was one of only three Republicans to break ranks with the party and support the bill, which was favored by President Barack Obama and was unanimously supported by the Democratic senators.^[41] As a result of his support, many in the Republican mainstream have begun to set up ads calling for his removal from office.^[42] Specter was instrumental in ensuring that the act allocated an additional $10 billion to the National Institutes of Health over the next two years.^[43] Since becoming a Democrat in the Senate, Specter has been denied seniority on Senate committees.^[44]

In October 2009, Specter called for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which he supported in 1996.^[45]

In November 2009, Specter introduced a bill to require televising U.S. Supreme Court proceedings, and explained "[t]he Supreme Court makes pronouncements on constitutional and federal law that have direct impacts on the rights of Americans. Those rights would be substantially enhanced by televising the oral arguments of the Court so that the public can see and hear the issues presented."^[46]

His career in the United States Senate ended on January 3, 2011. He was succeeded by Pat Toomey.

Committee assignments[link]

Specter holds the following committee assignments:^[47]

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Defense
  • Subcommittee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
  • Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
• Committee on Environment and Public Works
  • Subcommittee on Children's Health
  • Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health
  • Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights
  • Subcommittee on the Constitution
  • Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs (Chair)
  • Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law
• Committee on Veterans' Affairs
• Special Committee on Aging

Specter was chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1995, when the Republicans gained control of the Senate, until 1997, when he became chairman of the Committee on Veterans Affairs. He chaired that committee until 2001 and again from 2003 to 2005, during the times the Republicans controlled the Senate. He also chaired the Judiciary Committee from 2005 to 2007.

Campaigns[link]

Arlen Specter campaigning for re-election

In 1980, Specter became the Republican nominee for Senate when Republican incumbent Richard Schweiker announced his retirement. He faced the former Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pete Flaherty. Specter won the election by a 2.5% margin. He was later reelected in 1986, 1992, 1998 and 2004, despite 1992 and 1998 being bad years for Republicans. Specter ran for reelection in 2010, for the first time as a Democrat, but was defeated in the Primary.^[48]

1996 presidential bid[link]

On March 31, 1995, Specter announced his candidacy for President of the United States, to challenge the incumbent Bill Clinton. He entered the race claiming his party needed a candidate who did not conform to the stereotypical religious conservative image. He was critical of Pat Buchanan, Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed, saying all three were far too conservative.^[49]

His campaign focused on balancing the federal budget, strict crime laws, and establishing relations with North Korea.^[50] His candidacy was not expected to succeed in winning the Republican nomination due to the overwhelmingly large number of social conservatives in the Republican Party. He was, however, able to gain support. Although fellow Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was never overly enthusiastic, he was supportive. Other supportive Republicans were hopeful Specter could trim the party's "far-right fringe." Although his campaign was ultimately unsuccessful at wooing conservatives, it was widely believed he could have had a strong showing among independents. On November 23, 1995, before the start of the primaries, Specter suspended his campaign to endorse Kansas Senator Bob Dole.

2004 campaign[link]

In 2004, Specter faced a challenge in the Republican primary election from conservative Congressman Pat Toomey, whose campaign theme was that Specter was not fiscally conservative enough. The match-up was closely watched nationally, being seen as a symbolic clash between the conservative and moderate wings of the Republican Party. However, most of the state and national Republican establishment, including the state's other senator at the time, Rick Santorum closed ranks behind Specter. Specter was strongly supported by President George W. Bush. Specter narrowly avoided a major upset with 51 percent of the primary vote. Once Specter defeated the challenge from the right, he was able to enjoy great support from independents and some Democrats in his race against Hoeffel.^[51] Hoeffel also trailed Specter in name recognition, campaign funds and poll results.^[52] Although the two minor candidates were seen as more conservative than Specter, they were only able to take four percent of the vote and Specter was easily reelected.

2010 campaign[link]

Specter was up for re-election to the Senate in 2010, and expressed his plans to run again. On March 18, 2009, Specter said that he was not considering running as an independent. He said, "To eliminate any doubt, I am a Republican, and I am running for reelection in 2010 as a Republican on the Republican ticket." ^[53] Subsequently Specter's 2004 conservative GOP primary challenger, Pat Toomey, announced he would again run for the Republican nomination in the Republican senatorial primary.^[54]

However, on April 28, 2009, Specter stated that "As the Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the right, I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party."^[55] He said that he was switching party affiliation and would run as a Democrat in the 2010 election.^[4][55][56] In the same announcement, Specter also said that he had "surveyed the sentiments of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania and public opinion polls, observed other public opinion polls and have found that the prospects for winning a Republican primary are bleak."^[55] A March 2009 Quinnipiac poll indicated that Specter trailed his likely primary challenger, Pat Toomey, by 14 percent (41 percent for Toomey, 27 percent for Specter).^[57] Additional polling found that 70 percent of Pennsylvania Republicans disapproved of his recent vote in favor of the Stimulus Bill^[58] and that 52 percent of Pennsylvania Republicans disapprove of the job he is doing.^[57] Following Specter's switching parties, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele criticized his leaving the Republican Party, claiming that Specter had "flipped the bird" at the GOP.^[59]

On February 6, 2010, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party overwhelmingly endorsed U.S. Senator Arlen Specter at the Democratic State Committee's annual endorsement convention which was held in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.^[60] Specter defeated Joe Sestak by winning over 77% of the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee members vote which far exceeds the 2/3 threshold needed to claim the endorsement.^[61] Sestak, however, went on to win the Democratic primary nomination on May 18.^[62]

Political views[link]

According to the National Journal, Specter voted with Democrats 90% of the time since he switched parties, while as a Republican Specter split his votes between both parties.^[63] According to fivethirtyeight.com, between January–March 2009 Specter voted with the Democrats 58% of the time. Following the support of the stimulus package and the entrance of Pat Toomey in the Republican primary, Specter began to vote 16% with Democrats. When switching to become a Democrat, he voted 69% with his new party initially, until Joe Sestak entered the Democratic primary and Specter started to vote 97% of the time.^[64]

Abortion[link]

Specter states that he is "personally opposed to abortion", but is "a supporter of a woman's right to choose".^[65][66] He received a 20 percent rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America in 2005 based on certain votes related to the regulation of abortion; in 2008, he received 100 percent ^[67][68]

Gay rights[link]

Specter supports some LGBT rights. He voted to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation, and was a co-sponsor of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act.^[69] Specter is opposed to same-sex marriage, but is also opposed to a federal ban and supports civil unions.^[70] Specter also voted in favor of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the lame-duck session of the 111th Congress.

Gun control[link]

Specter strongly opposes most gun control, voting against the Brady Bill, background checks at gun shows, the ban on assault weapons, and trigger locks for handguns.^[71]

Affirmative action[link]

He supports affirmative action and voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1991, receiving a 76 percent rating from the NAACP in 2008.^[72] He was one of only four Republicans to vote against the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and in recent years has been less enthusiastic about weakening so-called consumer protection laws than many members of his party. In 1995 he was the only Republican to vote to limit tax cuts to individuals with incomes of less than one million dollars. He voted against CAFTA. Specter also supports an increase in the federal minimum wage. He is a leading supporter of the U.S. Public Service Academy.

Illegal immigration[link]

On immigration, Specter supports a "pathway to citizenship" and a "guest worker program" which opponents call amnesty. He introduced Senate bill S. 2611 (the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006) on April 6, 2006, which was passed by the Senate on May 25, 2006 before reaching a stalemate in the House.^[73]

Health care reform[link]

Public option[link]

On May 3, 2009 Specter went on Meet the Press and was asked "Would you support health care reform that puts up a government run public plan to compete with a private plan issued by a private insurance company?" Specter said no.^[74][75] Two months later, he changed his position and he now supports it.^[76]

Single payer[link]

Specter believes single payer healthcare should not be "taken off the table," according to an interview he had with John King on CNN.

Votes[link]

On health care reform, Specter was a cosponsor of the Healthy Americans Act, a proposal he supported during both the 110th and 111th Congresses. Specter voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the healthcare bill passed through the Senate by every Democratic senator, on a party-line vote.^[77]

Card check[link]

Specter has received a 61 percent rating from AFL-CIO.^[78] He voted for cloture on the Employee Free Choice Act in 2007. In early 2009, Specter announced that he would not be voting for cloture on the same act in the 111th Congress.^[79] After Specter switched parties, he changed his position on the issue yet again and wrote a letter to the unions that he supported card check legislation.

Privacy; computers[link]

Spurred by the 2010 case of Robbins v. Lower Merion School District, in which two high schools admitted to secretly taking 66,000 webcam photos and screenshots of students in their homes on school-issued laptops, Specter held a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs on March 29, 2010.^[80] He said: "The issue is one of surreptitious eavesdropping. Unbeknownst to people, their movements and activities were under surveillance."^[80] Specter said he believes existing wiretap and video-voyeurism statutes do not adequately address concerns in today's era of widespread use of cell-phone, laptop, and surveillance cameras.^[81] He said that Lower Merion's use of laptop cameras for surveillance convinced him that new federal legislation was needed to regulate electronic privacy.^[82][83]

Specter then introduced legislation in April 2010 to amend the federal Wiretap Act to clarify that it is illegal to capture silent visual images inside another person's home. He said: "This is going to become law. You have a very significant invasion of privacy with these webcams, as more information is coming to light."^[84] Speaking on the floor of the Senate, he said:

Many of us expect to be subject to ... video surveillance when we leave our homes and go out each day—at the ATM, at traffic lights, or in stores, for example. What we do not expect is to be under visual surveillance in our homes, in our bedrooms, and, most especially, we do not expect it for our children in our homes.^[85]

Other[link]

The Jewish daily newspaper The Forward reported in the wake of the July 2009 organ trafficking scandal in the U.S. involving Rabbi Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn that an Organ Trafficking Prohibition Act of 2009, sponsored by Specter, had yet to be officially introduced in the U.S. ^[86]

Specter criticized the federal government's policy on cancer, stating the day after Jack Kemp — the 1996 Republican vice presidential nominee and former congressman — died of cancer, that Kemp would still be alive if the federal government had done a better job funding cancer research.^[87]

Electoral history[link]

Arlen Specter Center for Political Science and International Relations at Philadelphia University[link]

On December 21, 2011, former Senator Arlen Specter donated to Philadelphia University nearly 2,700 boxes of historical papers and memorabilia dating from his career as a Philadelphia District Attorney to his service as a United States Senator, including materials associated with his role as assistant counsel on the Warren Commission. The Specter Collection will support The Arlen Specter Center for Political Science and International Relations at Philadelphia University.

The Center will be a nonpartisan initiative dedicated to promoting greater understanding of public policy issues both foreign and domestic. The Center will strive to accomplish these goals through support for research, educational programming, and exhibitions inspired, in part, by the Senator's career and the permanent collection of his historic papers. The Center will be managed by the Paul J. Gutman Library at Philadelphia University will be located in Roxboro House which is located nearby on campus.

Parts of Roxboro House date back to 1799. The Georgian period house constructed of frame and clapboard was expanded in 1810. At one point in its history, Roxboro House was owned by Dr. Caspar Wistar who published the first American textbook of anatomy in 1811. Wistar was president of the American Philosophical Society and his friend, Thomas Nuttall, a famous botanist, named the Wisteria vine after him. In 1965 the Philadelphia Historical Commission added this house to its list of registered buildings (No. 141). Prior to the University’s purchase of the property in 1998, the house was being used as a Bed and Breakfast establishment.

See also[link]

• List of select cases of Hodgkin's disease
• Party switching in the United States

References[link]

• Bugliosi, Vincent (2007). Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arlen Specter

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Arlen Specter

• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
  • Interactive timeline
• Booknotes interview with Specter on Passion for Truth, January 28, 2001.
• Complete transcript, audio and video of Specter's Final Floor Speech in the U.S. Senate at AmericanRhetoric.com

Articles

• After Yale, Specter Still a Force^{[dead link]}, Andrew Mangino, Yale Daily News, September 23, 2005
• Tale of injustice, Sarasota Herald Tribune, July 16, 2007
• Specter: Reagan’s GOP is Gone by Mark Trumbull, The Christian Science Monitor, May 3, 2009
• The Need to Roll Back Presidential Power Grabs, by Arlen Specter, The New York Review of Books, May 14, 2009
• The Magic Bullet; Even More Magical Than We Knew, Gary Aguilar and Josiah Thompson, History Matters

Legislation sponsored or cosponsored

The following table links to the Congressional Record hosted by the Library of Congress. All the specifics and actions taken for each individual piece of legislation that Specter either sponsored or cosponsored can be viewed in detail there. "Original bills" and "'Original amendments" indicate instances where Sen. Specter pledged to support the legislation at the time it was initially introduced and entered into the Senate record, rather than later in the legislative process.

v t e United States Senators from Pennsylvania Class 1 W. Maclay Gallatin Ross S. Maclay Leib Roberts Findlay Barnard Dallas McKean Sturgeon Brodhead S. Cameron Wilmot Buckalew J. Scott Wallace Mitchell Quay Knox Oliver Knox Crow Reed Guffey Martin H. Scott Heinz Wofford Santorum Casey Class 3 Morris Bingham Muhlenberg Logan Gregg Lacock Lowrie Marks Wilkins Buchanan S. Cameron Cooper Bigler Cowan S. Cameron J. Cameron Penrose Pepper Vare† Grundy Davis Myers Duff Clark Schweiker Specter Toomey Notes † Never officially seated.

v t e Chairmen of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Chase • Crittenden • Burrill • Smith • Van Buren • Berrien • Rowan • Marcy • Wilkins • Clayton • Grundy • Wall • Berrien • Ashley • Butler • Bayard • Trumbull • Edmunds • Thurman • Edmunds • Hoar • Pugh • Hoar • Platt • Clark • Culberson • Nelson • Brandegee • Cummins • Norris • Ashurst • Van Nuys • McCarran • Wiley • McCarran • Langer • Kilgore • Eastland • Kennedy • Thurmond • Biden • Hatch • Leahy • Hatch • Leahy • Hatch • Specter • Leahy

v t e Chairmen of the United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs Hartke • Cranston • Simpson • Murkowski • Cranston • Rockefeller • Simpson • Specter • Rockefeller • Specter • Craig • Akaka • Murray

v t e Chairmen of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Inouye • Bayh • Goldwater • Durenberger • Boren • DeConcini • Specter • Shelby • Graham • Shelby • Graham • Roberts • Rockefeller • Feinstein

Barney Frank
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 4th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1981
Preceded by	Robert Drinan
Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee
In office January 4, 2007 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Mike Oxley
Succeeded by	Spencer Bachus
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 8th Suffolk District
In office January 3, 1979 – January 7, 1981
Preceded by	Francis D. Dailey
Succeeded by	Thomas J. Vallely
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 5th Suffolk District
In office January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1979
Preceded by	Eliot Wadsworth
Succeeded by	Daniel F. Pokaski
Personal details
Born	Barnett Frank (1940-03-31) March 31, 1940 (age 72) Bayonne, New Jersey
Political party	Democratic
Domestic partner	Jim Ready
Relations	Sister: Ann Lewis[1]
Residence	Newton, Massachusetts
Alma mater	Harvard College Harvard Law School
Occupation	Attorney, United States Representative
Committees	House Financial Services Committee
Website	www.house.gov/frank

Barney Frank (born March 31, 1940) is the U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 4th congressional district since January 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee (2007–2011) and is considered the most prominent gay politician in the United States.^[2][3]

Born and raised in New Jersey, Frank graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He worked as a political aide before winning election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1972. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980 with 52 percent of the vote. He has been re-elected ever since by wide margins. In 1987 he came out as gay, becoming the first member of Congress to do so voluntarily. From 2007 to 2011, Frank served as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, where he remains the ranking Democrat.

On November 28, 2011, Frank announced that he would retire from the Congress at the conclusion of his term in 2013.^[4] On January 26, 2012 it was announced in The Hill that Frank would marry his partner James Ready.^[5]

Early life, education, and early career[link]

Frank was born Barnett Frank^[6] to a Jewish family in Bayonne, New Jersey, one of four children of Elsie (née Golush) and Samuel Frank.^[7] Frank's father ran a Jersey City truck stop — a place Frank describes as "totally corrupt" — and served a year in prison, when Frank was 6 or 7, for refusing to testify to a grand jury against Frank's uncle.^[8] Frank was educated at Harvard College, where he resided in Matthews Hall his first year and then in Kirkland House and Winthrop House, graduating in 1962. Frank's undergraduate studies were interrupted by the death of his father, and Frank took a year off to help resolve the family's affairs prior to his graduation.^[8] In 1964, he was a volunteer in Mississippi during Freedom Summer.^[9] He taught undergraduates at Harvard while studying for a PhD in Government, but left in 1968 before completing the degree, to become Boston mayor Kevin White's Chief Assistant, a position he held for three years. He then served for a year as Administrative Assistant to Congressman Michael J. Harrington. Frank later graduated from Harvard Law School, in 1977, where he was once a student of Henry Kissinger,^[10] while serving as Massachusetts State Representative.

Pre-congressional career[link]

In 1972 Frank was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives where he served for eight years. Frank made a name for himself in the mid-1970s as a political defender of the Combat Zone, Boston's notorious red light district. Neighborhoods in Frank's district bordered the Combat Zone. As a means of dealing with crime in the area (including violence, police corruption and the infiltration by organized crime), Frank introduced a bill into the Massachusetts General Court that would have legalized the sex-for-hire business but kept it quarantined in a red light district, which would have been moved to Boston's Financial District.^[11][12] The bill, which had the support of Boston's Police Commissioner, never came up for a vote. Later, when Frank was running for Congress, opponents erroneously portrayed him having attempted to permit red light districts in all Bay State communities.

While in state and local government, Frank taught part time at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Boston University. He published numerous articles on politics and public affairs, and in 1992 he published Speaking Frankly, an essay on the role the Democratic Party should play in the 1990s. In 1979, Frank was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts.

U.S. House of Representatives[link]

1981, Congressional Pictorial Directory – Frank's first term as Congressman

Elections[link]

In 1980, Frank ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 4th congressional district, hoping to succeed Father Robert Drinan, who had left Congress following a call by Pope John Paul II for priests to withdraw from political positions. In the Democratic primary held on September 16, 1980, Frank won 52% of the vote in a four-candidate field.^[13][14] As the Democratic nominee, Frank faced Republican Richard A. Jones in the general election and won narrowly, 52%–48%.^[15][16]

For his first term, Frank represented a district in the western and southern suburbs of Boston, anchored by Brookline and his hometown of Newton. However, in 1982, redistricting forced him to run against Republican Margaret Heckler, who represented a district centered on the South Coast, including Fall River and New Bedford. Although the newly configured district retained Frank's district number — the 4th — it was geographically more Heckler's district. Frank focused on Heckler's initial support for President Ronald Reagan's tax cuts, and won with 60% of the vote.^[17]

Frank did not face another serious race again for a quarter-century.^[18][19] From 1984 to 2008, he won re-election 12 times with at least 67% of the vote.^[20]

In 2010, Frank ran for his 16th term. Public opinion polling showed Frank facing his first credible challenge since defeating Heckler in 1982. He faced Republican Sean Bielat, a U.S. Marine veteran and businessman.^[21] In mid-September, an internal poll showed Frank leading 48%–38%.^[22] In late October, he loaned his campaign $200,000.^[23] In early October, the Cook Political Report changed its assessment of the district from “solid Democratic” to “likely Democratic”--meaning that while Frank was favored, a victory by Bielat could not be entirely ruled out. While Frank had a 3-to-1 advantage in terms of cash on hand, Bielat outraised him in September.^[24] On October 25, a Boston Globe survey showed Frank leading 46%–33%.^[25] Bielat released a TV ad showing Frank dancing under a disco ball, with the message that he was "dancing around the issues."^[26] Frank won re-election to his 16th term, 54%–43%.^[27]

On November 28, 2011, Frank announced at a news conference that he would not seek re-election in 2012.

Tenure[link]

Scandal[link]

In 1985 Frank was still closeted. That year he hired Steve Gobie for sex, a male prostitute, and they became friends more than sexual partners.^[28] Frank housed Gobie and hired him with personal funds as an aide, housekeeper and driver and paid for his attorney and court-ordered psychiatrist.^[28] In 1987 Frank kicked Gobie out after he was advised by his landlord that Gobie kept escorting despite the support and was doing so in the residence.^[28][29] Later that year Gobie's friends convinced him he had a gay male version of Mayflower Madam, a TV movie they had been watching.^[28] In 1989 Gobie tried to initiate a bidding war for the story between WUSA-TV (Channel 9), the Washington Times, and The Washington Post.^[28] He then gave the story to The Washington Times for nothing, in hopes of getting a book contract.^[29] Amid calls for an investigation Frank asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate his relationship "in order to insure that the public record is clear."^[30] The Committee found no evidence that Frank had known of or been involved in the alleged illegal activity and dismissed all of Gobie's more scandalous claims; they recommended a reprimand for Frank using his congressional office to fix 33 of Gobie's parking tickets and for misstatements of fact in a memorandum relating to Gobie's criminal probation record.^[31] The House voted 408–18 to reprimand Frank.^[32][33] The attempts to censure and expel Frank were led by Republican Larry Craig, whom Frank later criticized for hypocrisy^[34] after Craig's own arrest in 2007 for lewd conduct while soliciting gay sex in an airport bathroom.^[35][36][37] Frank won re-election that year with 66 percent of the vote, and has won by larger margins until the 2010 Mid-term elections when Frank only won by eleven points.^[38]

Public image[link]

Frank is known for his quick wit.^[39] In one famous quip he said he was unable to complete his review of the Starr Report detailing President Bill Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky, complaining that it was "too much reading about heterosexual sex".^[40] In 2004 and again in 2006, a survey of Capitol Hill staffers published in Washingtonian gave Frank the title of the "brainiest", "funniest", and "most eloquent" member of the House.^[41] In 2008 the same survey named him "brainiest", and runner up for "workhorse", and "most eloquent",^[42] in 2010 he was named "brainiest", "workhorse", and "funniest".^[43] He is also widely considered to be one of the most powerful members of Congress.^[3][44][45] In his book Ripples of Hope: Great American Civil Rights Speeches, Democratic speech writer Josh Gottheimer describes Frank as "one of the brightest and most energetic defenders of civil rights issues."^[46]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac[link]

In 2003, while the ranking minority member on the Financial Services Committee, Frank opposed a Bush administration proposal, in response to accounting scandals, for transferring oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from Congress and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to a new agency that would be created within the Treasury Department. The proposal, supported by the head of Fannie Mae, reflected the administration's belief that Congress "neither has the tools, nor the stature" for adequate oversight. Frank stated, "These two entities ...are not facing any kind of financial crisis ... The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."^[47] In 2003, Frank also stated what has been called his "famous dice roll":^[48] "I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness [in the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] that we have in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidised housing."^[49] In July 2008, Frank said in an CNBC interview, "I think this is a case where Fannie and Freddie are fundamentally sound, that they are not in danger of going under. They’re not the best investments these days from the long-term standpoint going back. I think they are in good shape going forward."^[50]

Frank was criticized by conservative organizations for campaign contributions totaling $42,350 between 1989 and 2008. Bill Sammon, the Washington managing editor for Fox News Channel, claimed the donations from Fannie and Freddie influenced his support of their lending programs, and said that Frank did not play a strong enough role in reforming the institutions in the years leading up to the Economic crisis of 2008.^[51] In 2006 a Fannie Mae representative stated in SEC filings that they "did not participate in large amounts of these non-traditional mortgages in 2004 and 2005."^[52] In response to criticism, Frank said, "In 2004, it was Bush who started to push Fannie and Freddie into subprime mortgages, because they were boasting about how they were expanding homeownership for low-income people. And I said at the time, 'Hey — (a) this is going to jeopardize their profitability, but (b) it's going to put people in homes they can't afford, and they're gonna lose them.'"^[8]

In 2009 Frank responded to what he called "wholly inaccurate efforts by Republicans to blame Democrats, and [me] in particular" for the subprime mortgage crisis, which is linked to the financial crisis of 2007–2009.^[53] He outlined his efforts to reform these institutions and add regulations, but met resistance from Republicans, with the main exception being a bill with Republican Mike Oxley that died because of opposition from President Bush.^[53] The 2005 bill included Frank objectives, which were to impose tighter regulation of Fannie and Freddie and new funds for rental housing. Frank and Mike Oxley achieved broad bipartisan support for the bill in the Financial Services Committee, and it passed the House. But the Senate never voted on the measure, in part because President Bush was likely to veto it. "If it had passed, that would have been one of the ways we could have reined in the bowling ball going downhill called housing," Oxley told Frank. In an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, Lawrence B. Lindsey, a former economic adviser to President George W. Bush, wrote that Frank "is the only politician I know who has argued that we needed tighter rules that intentionally produce fewer homeowners and more renters."^[8] Once control shifted to the Democrats, Frank was able to help guide both the Federal Housing Reform Act (H.R. 1427) and the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act (H.R. 3915) to passage in 2007.^[53] Frank also said that the Republican-led Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999, which repealed part of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933 and removed the wall between commercial and investment banks, contributed to the financial meltdown.^[53] Frank further stated that "during twelve years of Republican rule no reform was adopted regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In 2007, a few months after I became the Chairman, the House passed a strong reform bill; we sought to get the [Bush] administration's approval to include it in the economic stimulus legislation in January 2008; and finally got it passed and onto President Bush's desk in July 2008. Moreover, "we were able to adopt it in nineteen months, and we could have done it much quicker if the [Bush] administration had cooperated."^[54]

Subprime Mortgage crisis[link]

Congressmen Ellison & Frank at Financial Services Field Hearing on Home Foreclosures in Minneapolis.

As former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, beginning in 2007, Frank was "at the center of power".^[18] Frank has been a critic of aspects of the Federal Reserve system, partnering with some Republicans in opposition to some policies.^[55] Frank says that he and Republican Congressman Ron Paul "first bonded because we were both conspicuous nonworshipers at the Temple of the Fed and of the High Priest Alan Greenspan."^[55]

Frank has been involved in mortgage foreclosure bailout issues.^[56] In 2008 Frank supported passage of the American Housing Rescue & Foreclosure Prevention Act, intended to protect thousands of homeowners from foreclosure.^[18] This law, H.R. 3221, is considered one of the most important and complex issues on which he worked.^[18][57] In an August 2007 op-ed piece in Financial Times, Frank wrote, "In the debate between those who believe in essentially unregulated markets and others who hold that reasonable regulation diminishes market excesses without inhibiting their basic function, the subprime situation unfortunately provides ammunition for the latter view."^[58] Frank was also instrumental in the passage of H.R. 5244, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2008, a measure that drew praise from editorial boards and consumer advocates.^[59][60][61] In 2007 Frank co-sponsored legislation to reform the Section 202 refinancing program, which is for affordable housing for the elderly, and Section 811 disabled programs.^[62] Frank has been a chief advocate of the National Housing Trust Fund,^[8] which was created as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and was the first affordable housing program to be enacted by the Congress since 1990.^[63]

During the subprime mortgage crisis, Frank was characterized as "a key deal-maker, an unlikely bridge between his party's left-wing base and [...] free market conservatives" in the Bush administration.^[64][65] Hank Paulson, the U.S. Treasury Secretary for the Bush administration, said he enjoyed Frank's penchant for brokering deals, "he is looking to get things done and make a difference, he focuses on areas of agreement and tries to build on those."^[64]

The New York Times noted that the Federal Housing Administration's crucial role in the nation's housing market, providing low-down-payment mortgages during the crisis of 2007–2010 when no mortgages would otherwise have been available, "helped avert full-scale disaster" by helping people purchase or refinance homes and thereby putting a floor under falling home prices. However, due to the tighter flow of credit from the banks, total FHA loans in 2009 were four times that of 2006, raising concern that year that if the economy were to dip back into recession, more Fed funds could be required to keep those loans afloat. Frank's response was that the additional defaults — 2.2% more of the total portfolio in 2009 than the year before — were worth the economic stabilization of the broader policy, noting "It was an effort to keep prices from falling too fast." In that context, he opined, "I don't think it's a bad thing that the bad loans occurred." In fact, the unprecedented number of loans made since 2008 were noted to be performing far better than those in the prior two years.^[66]

Committee assignments[link]

• Committee on Financial Services (Ranking Member)

Political positions and votes[link]

Frank in his congressional office in 2002

Abortion[link]

In 2009 Frank had a 100% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America indicating a pro-choice voting record.^[67] He voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act,^[68] against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act^[69] and against restrictions on the transportation of minors across state lines by non-family members to circumvent local abortion laws. In 1993 Frank co-sponsored the "Freedom of Choice Act" (H.R.25) (1993-H25) to "protect the reproductive rights of women".^[70][71] In 2006 he co-sponsored the "Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies Act" (S.3945) 06-S3945), a bill for "emergency contraception for rape victims".^[70] In 2007 his co-sponsored the "Compassionate Care for Servicewomen Act" (S.1800 & HR.2064) (07-HR2064) to "providing emergency contraception at military facilities"; the "Prevention First Act" (S.21&H.R.463 2009-S21) to "expand access to preventive health care services that help reduce unintended pregnancy, reduce abortions, and improve access to women's health care".^[70]

Civil rights[link]

In 1987, Frank was the Chair of the important House Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Law and Governmental Relations in the 100th Congress. In this position, he was one of the staunchest supporters of redress and reparations for Japanese American internment during World War II.^[72][73] In 2001 Frank co-sponsored an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to apply equal rights based on gender differences.^[74] In 2002 he co-sponsored the "Federal Agency Protection of Privacy Act" (H.R.4561) to require a "Privacy Impact Statement" on new federal rules.^[74] In 2002 he was scored at 93% by the American Civil Liberties Union on civil rights issues indicating a pro-civil rights voting record.^[74]

In 2006, Frank was one of three Representatives to oppose the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act, which restricted protests (notably those of Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church) at soldiers' funerals. He opposed the bill, which passed unanimously in the Senate, on civil liberties and constitutional grounds. Frank said of the vote, "I think it's very likely to be found unconstitutional. It's true that when you defend civil liberties you are typically defending people who do obnoxious things... You play into their hand when you let them provoke you into overdoing it. I don't want these thugs to [make the] claim [that] America is hypocritical."^[75] The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People scored him at 100% in 2006 indicating a pro-affirmative-action stance.^[74]

In 2007 Frank co-sponsored the "Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act" (S.2521/H.R.4838) to "provide benefits to domestic partners of Federal employees".^[74] The same year he co-sponsored the "Equal Rights Amendment" (S.J.RES.10/H.J.RES.40) to "strengthen the ongoing efforts of women across the country to obtain equal treatment."^[74] In 2009 he signed bills recognizing the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and the 100th anniversary of the NAACP.^[74]

Frank has been outspoken on many civil rights issues, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights. In 1987, he publicly came out as gay.^[76] In 1990, Frank was instrumental in crafting the 1990 Immigration Act, which restated the reasons for which a person could be denied entry into the country. The act did not include "sexual preference exclusion[s]", reforming earlier immigration law which allowed persons to be excluded for a sexual deviance "afflict[ion]".^[77] He said in a 1996 interview: "I'm used to being in the minority. I'm a left-handed gay Jew. I've never felt, automatically, a member of any majority." In 1995, then-Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey famously referred to Frank as "Barney Fag" in a press interview. Armey apologized and said it was "a slip of the tongue". Frank did not accept Armey's explanation, saying "I turned to my own expert, my mother, who reports that in 59 years of marriage, no one ever introduced her as Elsie Fag."^[78] In 1998, Frank founded the National Stonewall Democrats, the national LGBT Democratic organization.

In 2006, Frank and incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were accused by Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN) of having a "radical homosexual agenda"; Frank responded "I do have things I would like to see adopted on behalf of LGBT people: they include the right to marry the individual of our choice; the right to serve in the military to defend our country; and the right to a job based solely on our own qualifications.^[8][79] I acknowledge that this is an agenda, but I do not think that any self-respecting radical in history would have considered advocating people's rights to get married, join the army, and earn a living as a terribly inspiring revolutionary platform."^[79] Frank's stance on outing gay Republicans has been called the "Frank Rule" whereby a closeted person who uses their power, position, or notoriety to hurt LGBT people can be outed.^[80] The issue became relevant during the Mark Foley scandal of 2006, during which Frank clarified his position on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher: "I think there's a right to privacy. But the right to privacy should not be a right to hypocrisy. And people who want to demonize other people shouldn't then be able to go home and close the door and do it themselves."^[81]

In February 2009, Frank was one of three openly gay members of Congress, along with Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Jared Polis of Colorado. In April 2009 Frank was named in the LGBT magazine Out's "Annual Power 50 List", landing at the top spot.^[3]

In 2006 the Human Rights Campaign scored him at 100% indicating a pro-gay-rights stance.^[74]

Crime[link]

In 2000 Frank was rated at 89% by Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants indicating pro-rehabilitation crime votes.^[82] He co-sponsored "Innocence Protection Act of 2001" (H.R. 912, S.486) to "reduce the risk that innocent persons may be executed [by examining DNA evidence more thoroughly]" and the "National Death Penalty Moratorium Act of 2001" (H.R.1038, S.233) to limit capital punishment until the National Commission on the Death Penalty reviewed the "fairness of the imposition of the death penalty".^[82] In 2001 he also co-sponsored the "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act" (01-HR1343) to "provide Federal assistance to States and local jurisdictions to prosecute hate crimes."^[82] Frank co-sponsored the "Recidivism Reduction and Second Chance Act of 2007" to reducing recidivism. (this became Public Law No: 110-199).^[82]

Drugs[link]

In 2001 Frank authored the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act (H.R. 2592), an attempt to stop federal government from preempting states' medical marijuana laws.^[83] He has consistently voted for the bipartisan Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, annually proposed by Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), that would prohibit the United States Department of Justice from prosecuting medical marijuana patients.^[84] In March 2008, he proposed the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008 (HR 5843), which would have decriminalized small amounts of the drug but died in committee during the 110th Congress. On June 18, 2009 he re-introduced the bill as the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009 (HR 2943).^[85] Commenting on legislation to remove federal criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use, Frank stated "In a free society a large degree of human activity is none of the government's business. We should make criminal what's going to hurt other people and other than that we should leave it to people to make their own choices."^[86] In 2003 he was rated "A" by Vote Hemp, indicating a pro-hemp voting record.^[87] In 2006 he was rated "+30" by NORML, indicating a pro-drug-reform stance.^[87] In 2007 he co-sponsored the "Drug Sentencing Reform & Kingpin Trafficking Act" ((S.1711) 07-S1711) to "target cocaine kingpins and address sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine".^[87] In 2008 Frank sponsored "Removing Impediments to Students Education" (RISE) ((H.R.5157) 08-HR5157) to allow rehabilitated drug offenders to get student loans.^[87]

In 2009 Frank signed the "Community AIDS and Hepatitis Prevention Act" (HR 179 2009-H179) to "use Federal funds for syringe exchange programs for purposes of reducing the transmission of bloodborne pathogens, including HIV and viral hepatitis" and the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009 (H.R.1866 2009-H1866) to "grant each state regulating authority for the growing and processing of industrial hemp."^[87]

Economic issues[link]

Frank is a member of the Congressional Internet Caucus established in 1996 to "promoting growth and advancement of the Internet and advance the United States' world leadership in the digital world".^[88] In 2001 he co-sponsored the "Anti-Spamming Act" (01-HR718) to protect people and businesses from "unsolicited and unwanted electronic mail".^[88] In 2006 Frank voted for the "Communications, Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act" (Bill HR 5252 Amendment 987) to "establish "network neutrality" (non-tiered Internet)."^[88] In 2008 Frank voted against the "FISA Amendments Act" (Bill HR6304) which would give retroactive immunity for those involved in the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy.^[88] The same year he co-sponsored overturning FCC approval of media consolidation (S.J.RES.28&H.J.RES.79 2008-SJR28).^[88]

Environment[link]

In 1993 he co-sponsored "Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments" (H.R.3392) to regulate more contaminants under the Clean Water Act.^[89] In 2001 Frank co-sponsored the "National Forest Protection and Restoration Act" (H.R.1494) to "prohibiting commercial logging on Federal public lands".^[89] In 2003 he was rated 95% by the League of Conservation Voters indicating pro-environment votes.^[89] In 2007 he co-sponsored the "Great Cats and Rare Canids Act" (H.R.1464) to "provide financial resources and to foster international cooperation for promoting conservation of rare felids & canids".^[89] In the same year he co-sponsored the "Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act" (S.261/H.R.137) to "strengthen prohibitions against animal fighting".^[89]

Military[link]

In 1996 Frank co-sponsored the "Federal Law Enforcement Dependents Assistance Act" (H.R.4111. Became Public Law No: 104-238.) to "to provide educational assistance to the dependents of Federal law enforcement officials who are killed or disabled in the performance of their duties."^[90] In 2001 Frank co-sponsored "the MX Missile Stand-Down Act" (01-HR2718) to take fifty peacekeeper missiles off of high-alert status and he co-sponsored the Landmine Elimination and Victim Assistance Act (01-HR948).^[90] As of December 2003 Frank has a 89% rating by Peace Action, indicating a pro-peace voting record.^[90] In 2005 he co-sponsored "Rail Security Act" (S.1379/H.R.153) (05-S1379) giving higher priority to rail transportation security.^[90] In 2008 he co-sponsored the "Veterans Suicide Study Act" ( (S.2899/H.R.4204) 08-S2899) designed to study and address suicides among veterans.^[90] As of the 111th Congress, Frank is advocating a 25 percent reduction in the overall Military budget of the United States. "The math is compelling: if we do not make reductions approximating 25 percent of the military budget starting fairly soon, it will be impossible to continue to fund an adequate level of domestic activity...," wrote Frank. He claimed that such a significant reduction would have no effect on the United States' ability to defend itself. "If," he said, "beginning one year from now, we were to cut military spending by 25 percent from its projected levels, we would still be immeasurably stronger than any combination of nations with whom we might be engaged."^[91] Frank supports having fewer F-35 Joint Strike Fighter planes, but also supports a $3 billion backup engine project that the Pentagon does not want.^[92] Frank told MSNBC's Keith Olbermann that he actually wanted to cut the entire F-35 program, but as long as military spending continued he would fight for his district's share of it.^[93]

Online gambling[link]

Frank has partnered with Ron Paul in support of online gambling rights. In 2006, both strongly opposed H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act, and H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.^[94][95] To restore online gambling rights, in 2007 Frank sponsored H.R. 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act.^[96] This bill would have established licensing and regulation of online gaming sites. It provided for age verification and protections for compulsive gamblers. In 2008, he and Paul introduced H.R. 5767, the Payment Systems Protection Act, a bill that sought to place a moratorium on enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 while the United States Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve defined "unlawful Internet gambling". As a result of these efforts, Frank (who does not gamble) has been praised by poker players and online gamblers, including many Republicans.^[97]

Personal life[link]

According to Stuart Weisberg's 2009 biography Barney Frank: The Story of America's Only Left-Handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman, Frank dated women in an effort to deny his homosexuality. His last romance with a woman was a nearly two-year long affair with Irish-American Catholic Kathleen Sullivan, the daughter of New England Patriots owner Billy Sullivan, that began in 1974. When the two split up, at Frank's instigation, he admitted to her that he was gay. He was still closeted publicly.

According to Frank, he "realized it was crazy" to try to have a romance with someone he cared for but was not compatible with due to his homosexuality. "That was the last effort to avoid being gay," Weisberg quotes Frank as saying. Frank never again dated a woman.

Frank started coming out as gay to friends before he ran for Congress and came out publicly on May 30, 1987, "prompted in part by increased media interest in his private life" and the death of Stewart McKinney, "a closeted bisexual Republican representative from Connecticut"; Frank told The Washington Post after McKinney's death there was "An unfortunate debate about 'Was he or wasn't he? Didn't he or did he?' I said to myself, I don't want that to happen to me."^{[2][98][99][note 1]} Frank's announcement had little impact on his electoral prospects.^[98] Shortly after coming out, Frank met and began dating Herb Moses, an economist and LGBT activist; their relationship lasted for eleven years until an amicable break-up in July 1998.^{[98][100][101]} Moses, who was an executive at Fannie Mae from 1991 to 1998, was the first partner of an openly gay member of Congress to receive spousal benefits and the two were considered "Washington's most powerful and influential gay couple."^[100]

Frank resides in a studio apartment complex in Newton, Massachusetts. His partner, Jim Ready, is a surfing enthusiast whom Frank met during a gay political fundraiser in Maine, where Ready still lives.^[19] Frank announced he would marry Ready in 2012.^[102]

As of 2010^[update], Frank's net worth is estimated by the Center for Responsive Politics to be between $619,024 and $1,510,000.^[103] His sister, Ann Lewis, served as a senior adviser in Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.^[104]

Electoral history[link]