Barney and Fannie -- what a relationship!

The Democrats are busy spinning the economic meltdown to blame the Republicans. No doubt there's plenty of blame to go around, but it's particularly interesting to watch Barney Frank blather on in view of the cozy relationship he had with Fannie Mae (and one of Fannie's execs). The Business and Media Institute has a very interesting article on its site, Media Mum on Barney Frank's Fannie Mae Love Connection. A couple of excerpts below will give you an idea of Frank's involvement which involves serious ethical violations. Maybe it's time for the House to take action against this character for his corrupt behavior. He was in bed (literally) with Fannie Mae.

"Frank was and remains a stalwart defender of Fannie Mae, which is now under FBI investigation along with its sister organization Freddie Mac, American International Group Inc. (NYSE:AIG) and Lehman Brothers (NYSE:LEH) – all recently participants in government bailouts. But Frank has derailed efforts to regulate the institution, as well as denying it posed any financial risk. Frank’s office has been unresponsive to efforts by the Business & Media Institute to comment on these potential conflicts of interest."

The article goes on to say Frank was in an on-going affair with an executive of Fannie Mae:
"While the relationship reportedly ended 10 years ago, Frank was serving on the House Banking Committee the entire 10 years they were together. The committee is the primary House body which along with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) has jurisdiction over the government-sponsored enterprises."

And another interesting piece of information:
"According to an article by Kathleen Day in the Oct. 8, 2003, Washington Post, Frank opposed giving the Bush administration the right to approve or disapprove business activities that 'could pose risk to the taxpayers.' He told the Post he worried the Treasury Department 'would sacrifice activities that are good for consumers in the name of lowering the companies’ market risks.'

"Just a month before, Frank had aggressively thwarted reform efforts by the Bush administration. He told The New York Times on Sept. 11, 2003, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s problems were 'exaggerated,' a gross miscalculation some five years later with costs estimated to be in the hundreds of billions.

"Frank has also reaped campaign contribution benefits from Fannie Mae and its counterpart Freddie Mac. According a front page story in the Sept. 19, 2008, Investor’s Business Daily by Terry Jones, Frank has received $40,100 in campaign cash over the past two decades from the GSEs." [Along with many other politiicians including Barack Obama, who raked in over $126,000.]

And one more excerpt from Media Mum:
"According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets.org, political action committees financed by both Freddie and Fannie have contributed $3,017,797 to members of Congress since 1989. And according to the July 16 issue of Politico, the two entities have spent a whopping $200 million to buy influence – including not only campaign donations to members of Congress, but also presidential campaigns and lobbying efforts."

Well, the American taxpayer will be left holding the bag for this graphic example of one of the seven deadly sins -- GREED.