December 16, 2012 — Barney Frank quietly slipped out of the city that he has done so much for, leaving behind a downtown that will soon reclaim its connection to its waterfront, and a UMass marine science campus that has already expanded to become a world leader.
At my request, this congressman who brought such great federal commitment to New Bedford willingly took a quick walk in the heavy rain to the site of two of his greatest accomplishments — the redesigned and reconstructed Route 18 and the fishing docks where the boats berth for our rejuvenated scallop industry and our still-beleaguered groundfish one.
The SouthCoast has been on the winning side of the lottery to have had such a congressman.
Most regions of the country are represented by back-bench House members, folks who make little mark on their districts, never mind the nation.
In Barney Frank, however, Greater New Bedford and Fall River have had a congressman who understood their uniquely regional needs but also had the intellect and power of personality to command the national stage on the issues they share with the nation.
Barney Frank in his last weeks will not be voting to raise the age of Medicare or to eviscerate Social Security. In the future, he will continue lobbying for regulations to prevent Wall Street's devastating practices of gambling with other people's money. He will continue to argue for Europe and the Far East sharing a greater burden of the defense budget and he will continue to speak out on personal freedom issues like marijuana legalization and gay rights. He will also continue to be a voice against the environmental extremism he saw destroy the lives of so many working fishermen. Look for him to write a book encompassing all these subjects in the next year. Call it philosophy of government, according to Barney Frank.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times