Published by the Business Journal Aug. 13, 2010 7:14 a.m.
By Dennis LaRue
YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO – The congressman the Republicans portray as the mastermind of the residential mortgage markets debacle, Barney Frank, helped the Mahoning Valley Democratic Party raise some $75,000 Thursday -- and in the process skewered his critics.

At a dinner at Mr. Anthony's, Boardman, Frank, D-Mass. and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, helped to fill the 176 places set. About an hour before the dinner began, the chairman of the party, attorney David Betras, said more than 130 had paid the $500 per ticket admission and that he expected walk-ins to fill the balance of the seats.

(The dinner was closed to the press.)

More seats would have been sold, Betras said, except for the fund-raisers other Democratic officeholders are holding in the Valley this month: Gov. Ted Strickland seeking re-election, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher running for U.S. Senate, 4th Ward Councilwoman Carol Rimedio-Righetti running for county commissioner and several judicial candidates.

"We're going to do very well," Betras assured a reporter. The $75,000 is an estimate based on $500 a head multiplied by 150. Some contributors gave more than $500 and some, such as officeholders, were given a discount, Betras said.

The party chairman was Frank's escort as he toured the Mahoning Valley yesterday. They visited brownfield sites so the Massachusetts Democrat could see firsthand why funds U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-17 Ohio, is trying to secure funds for their redevelopment, Betras said.

In the stop at the Mahoning Valley Pride Center, Poland Avenue, Frank received a warm welcome and a plaque of appreciation from its director, Scott Fullerton, who honored him "as one of the most powerful gay men in the United States" and saluted him as a role model for gays, lesbians and transgendered Americans.

Fullerton, owner of the Ace in the Hole Marketing agency, noted how Frank has been open about his sexual orientation his entire public career.

In response, Frank urged the gay and lesbian community here to support the Democratic candidates and work for their election. If they don't, he warned, and the Republicans regain power, their goal of winning equal rights will be set back.

Congress is close to repealing the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy that has governed the military since 1993, Frank said. And universal recognition of gay marriage is within reach.

"I wish we lived in a world where how one lives his life wasn't such an issue," Frank told the 20 present. "But we live in reality." And that reality encompasses Republican efforts to keep gays and lesbians second-class citizens. "Sexual orientation is the biggest divide" between Republicans and Democrats in Congress, he said.

If gays and lesbians' get involved and stay involved, Frank said, "I can guarantee nothing. If the Republicans regain their [pre-2006] majority," the gains since the Republican lost control of Congress will disappear.

A Republican congressman from Indiana, since defeated, accused Frank of trying to promote "a radical homosexual agenda," Frank recalled. "But what I want is to be able to get a job, get married and join the military. That sounds mainstream to me. … It's clear to me what will happen if the Republicans win. It all [gains in civil rights] goes away."

Turning to the health of the economy, Frank accused "the dominant element of Republican Party of being deathly afraid things will get better before November," which is why they have employed obstructionist tactics to every proposal the Democrats have introduced to extend unemployment insurance, provide states with funding for public works projects and so they don't have to lay off teachers and safety forces. "That the saddest thing about the Republicans," he said.

When Betras and Frank arrived at Mr. Anthony's a little before 5 p.m., a long line of pickets, mostly salaried retirees from Delphi, greeted them. Among the pickets were a couple members of the Tea Party, a handful of real estate agents and the chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Party, Mark Munroe.

Inside Mr. Anthony's at the press conference that Betras arranged, Frank took questions based on Republican accusations, returning better than he got, and challenging reporters to be specific. He reminded them he voted against allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to get into buying subprime loans, the housing mess the Democrats inherited had been caused by George W. Bush Administration's misguided and unfounded belief in entirely free markets.

“Our Republican friends want to return to their policies of no regulation of the financial institutions and massive tax cuts that got the economy in trouble in the first place. And when President Barack Obama took office, they resisted polices to make things better," Frank said.

"I became chairman [of the House Financial Affairs Committee] in 2007," he reminded reporters. The conditions that allowed the subprime mess were in force before then. "The losses come from before [the Democrats regained control of Congress in 2006]. …

"It was frustrating to me. They [Republicans] put policies in place that didn't work and now they want to [regain power so they can] do it again," Frank said.

The Dodd-Frank Act, which created a federal consumer protection office, among other things, should prevent a recurrence of the meltdown of financial markets at the end of the Bush Administration, the Democrat from Massachusetts said. It also requires that a lenders have proof the borrower has the means to repay the mortgage he takes out.

As for the government bailout of General Motors, Chrysler and the largest U.S. banks, Frank noted the Department of the Treasury has made a profit from the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP funds.

As for the $150 billion sent to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the chairman of the House Financial Affairs Committee thinks it unlikely taxpayers will be made whole.