So Elmer Fudd Barney Frank announced yesterday that he would not be running for re-election in 2012.  His stated reason was that his district was gerrymandered, which is true.  But Frank was no longer safe in a  safe-district. Remember it took a last-minute infusion of DNCC money to save Barney Frank in 2010 and even then, his 54% of the vote was the lowest he had ever received since his first election in 1980. Frank is retiring because he is chicken, he almost lost last time, and doesn’t have the guts to try again.

In his 31+ years in the House of Representatives Frank was always there to remind people why term limits should be added to the constitution. Be it the brothel that was operated out of his house, his lover that worked for Freddie Mac which led to his unbridled support of Fannie and Freddie which helped cause the housing bubble and great recession, his progressive stances which would make the most avid socialist proud, or that unexplained arrogance (he has nothing to be arrogant about).

Today is a good day for America because Barney Frank’s days in Congress are numbered, to understand why he was so bad for the country, I put together this video “tribute.”

In the video below Frank sits in a 9/10/03 House Financial Services Committee hearing and says Fannie and Freddie are sound, and there is no housing disaster coming.

Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.): I worry, frankly, that there’s a tension here. The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios.

Here Congressman Fudd Frank stood up on the floor of the House of Representatives and told America that there is undue concern about the housing market and even though prices were growing very quickly the housing market is not like the Dot.Com industry, the housing bubble will not burst.

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The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), the most important ethics reform for the House in a generation, appears to be safe from being disbanded for now. While Republican leadership has never liked the idea of the OCE, this was the right thing to do.

Of course, the OCE’s work will be for naught if the House Ethics Committee ignores its recommendations, which is exactly what happened last week in the per diem scandal.

In March 2010, Judicial Watch sent a letter to the OCE requesting a full investigation of members of Congress who illegally pocket leftover per diem travel funds. (House rules mandate all leftover per diem funds be returned.)

“In the least, there is evidence of a general misunderstanding among lawmakers that unused per diems may be converted for personal use. At worst, members may be illegally pocketing taxpayer funds,” Judicial Watch stated in its letter of complaint, while noting it is a federal criminal offense to convert public money for personal use.

The OCE did its job well — investigating the matter and recommending the House Ethics Committee pursue its own investigation. The OCE investigation focused on six Members of Congress: Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL); Rep. G.K. Butterfield ( D-NC); Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY); Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL); Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-TX); and Rep. Joe Wilson, (R-SC). But that’s not going to happen.

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