Talk:Barney Frank

House seniority

The opening paragraph says that Frank is the longest serving member of the Massachusetts House delegation, but according to Ed Markey's Wikipedia article Markey has been a House member since 1976 and Frank did not begin his first term until 1981. —Preceding unsigned comment added by WrenandStimpy (talk • contribs) 15:07, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Error in First Paragraph

There's a significant error in the opening paragraph of this article. Frank was elected to a full term in 1980 and was first re-elected in 1982. The article presently states: "In 1982, he won his first full term, and he has been re-elected ever since by wide margins." Unfortunately, I cannot correct this error as the page has been locked. 164.64.74.44 (talk) 14:43, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

I just noticed that myself, and found it confusing. I'll fix it right now. Eegorr (talk) 07:53, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Credible Opponent

"won by twenty percentage points. He has not faced credible opposition since"

No longer true. In the current race against Sean Bielat, some polls showed only a 10% lead a few weeks ago, and he has called in Bill Clinton to campaign for him due to serious concern. The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and other media have covered this as the first real challenge he has faced in a long time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.16.9.33 (talk) 13:17, 8 October 2010 (UTC)

If by some polls you mean a single poll commissioned by Bielat's own campaign, then that is true. A poll commissioned by Frank's campaign shows Frank with a 24 point lead. Common sense suggests that it is somewhere in between. Regardless, because the campaign has been gathering some interest in the press, it wouldn't be a bad idea to add a section on his 2010 re-election campaign. 24.126.67.45 (talk) 18:06, 15 October 2010 (UTC)

Rollback of Unsourced Edits

Since this article is a biography of a living person, I rolled back the two most recent edits lacking reference citations. Please feel free to add back the rolled-back content, but only if verifiable citations are included. Thanks. --Art Smart ^Chart/Heart 20:52, 31 October 2010 (UTC)

What are you talking about, that the edits weren't sourced? The first edit was sourced with "A Frank Suggestion: Hookers in the Financial District" (Boston Herald-American, November 25, 1976) and the second edit mentions Stuart Weisberg's biography from which the information about Frank's relationship with Kathleen Sullivan was taken RIGHT IN THE TEXT. (The book is mentioned as a soure for the entire article.) I think is is unbelievable that you can say that sourced material is unsourced. What is your bias here? Does Barney Frank's involvement with the Combat Zone (and prostitution) -- which made his name in Massachusetts in the 1970s as a sort of lefty-libertarian -- and his involvement with a woman in a heterosexual relationship offend you and require "cleansing"?Shemp Howard, Jr. (talk) 14:52, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

No bias. Please use the citation formatting clearly explained here. Thanks. --Art Smart ^Chart/Heart 19:15, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

Undue weight with blockquote

This edit violates WP:undue in my opinion, as it highlights the quote for special attention not at all representative of the section as a whole. The last paragraph of the section is ripe with much more representative blockquotes. Should this issue be voted upon to reach a consensus? If so, I vote to include it within the text of the section, but not highlight it as a blockquote. --Art Smart ^Chart/Heart 03:18, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

If you want to get rid of the blockquote then fine, but this quote was very notable back in 2008 during the whole government conservatorship of Fannie and Freddie. Truthsort (talk) 04:51, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Edit warring over article's lead

On two or three occasions now I've removed material from the article's lead placed there by an enthusiastic editor, one "Munijym," who apparently thinks it proper to be Congressman Frank's Wikipedia publicist. He has more than doubled the size of the preexisting lead with glowingly positive descriptions of the Congressman's achievements and personality and, apparently, has trouble understanding why any fair-minded person would object to such blatant puffery WP:NPOV and excess detail WP:Lead in the article's lead. Badmintonhist (talk) 07:32, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

Thank you. If you look through the logs, I had a similar edit war with him 2 years ago under the User:Benjiboi. Look out for both of them. Seniortrend (talk) 08:46, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

GA nomination

I haven't worked on this article but it seems fairly developed. Is anyone interested in getting it to GA status? —Designate (talk) 20:30, 28 November 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from Lithanus, 16 December 2010

{{edit semi-protected}} In 1985 Frank was still closeted and the "first time he felt good in a relationship" was after he hired Steve Gobie, a male prostitute, they became friends more than sexual partners. Frank did admit paying Gobie for sex.

Lithanus (talk) 08:07, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

 Not done: The first sentence is already in the article, so I assume you're requesting the addition of the second sentence. The use of "admit" seems contrary to Wikipedia's policy on neutrality; something like "Frank stated he paid Gobie for sex" would be more neutral. But regardless, the second sentence seems redundant to the first; to "hire a prostitute" as a sexual partner implies paying for sex. However, I will fix the comma splice in the first sentence. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 09:35, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

No Longer One of the Most Powerful

It seems that Rep. Frank has lost his position of chairman of the powerful U.S. House Financial Services Committee following the GOP sweep of Congress, should that be noted now or after the new Congress takes over?

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1303490&position=emailed

Seniortrend (talk) 01:28, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

He's still chairman until the new Congress is sworn in. —Designate (talk) 03:11, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Congressman Frank